Bernadette Greevy
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Bernadette Greevy (born July 3, 1940 in Dublin) is an Irish mezzo-soprano.
She studied in Dublin with Jean Nolan and at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with Helene Isepp.
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[edit] Roles
Although she is largely a recital and concert vocalist, she made her operatic début at the Wexford Festival in 1962 as Beppe in Pietro Mascagni’s L'amico Fritz. She made her Royal Opera House début in 1982 as Genevieve in Claude Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.
Other operatic roles have included:
- Bizet Carmen (Carmen)
- Britten Rape of Lucretia (Lucretia)
- Gluck Orfeo e Euridice (Orfeo)
- Handel Ariodante
- Massenet Hérodiade (Hérodiade)
- Massenet Werther
- Purcell Dido and Aeneas (Dido)
- Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalila (Delilah)
- Verdi Il Trovatore (Azucena)
- Verdi Don Carlos (Eboli)
She performed all Mahler's vocal works with orchestra over a four-year period in the 1990s in the Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
In 2000, she became Founder/Artistic Director of the Anna Livia International Opera Festival, a Dublin-based Summer Festival.
She was the first Artist in Residence of the Dublin Institute of Technology & Faculty of Applied Arts.
A 1966 review by Howard Klein in the New York Times of Greevy singing Handel arias on record stated: “The voice has the firm, compact resonance of a true contralto. She has endless breath and can move her voice with agility and precision”.
[edit] Awards and honours
These include:
- Harriet Cohen International Music Award for Outstanding Artistry
- Order of Merit of Malta
- Honorary Doctorate of Music, National University of Ireland
- Honorary Doctorate of Music, Trinity College Dublin
- Jacob's Award (1978) for her performance on radio of Mahler
- The papal cross Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice (conferred by the Holy See)
[edit] Recordings
- Bach
- Berlioz
- Duparc
- Elgar singing Sea Pictures London Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley Elgar: Symphony No.2 / Sea Pictures Cfp 5753062
- Handel Ariodante and Orlando (opera)
- Haydn
- Mahler
- Various composers: John F. Larchet, Charles Villiers Stanford, Carl Hardebeck, Gerard Victory, Vincent O’Brien and Havelock Nelson A Sheaf of Songs from Ireland Marco Polo - 8.225098
[edit] References
- Klein, Howard. “Gwyneth Jones is a Comer” The New York Times, December 18, 1966 page X27.
- New Grove Dictionary of Opera (1992)