Joan Carlyle is a Welsh opera singer (born 6 April 1931 Wirral, Cheshire).
After studying singing with Madame Nicklass Kempner, Joan Carlyle auditioned for the Royal Opera House and was put under contract by music director Rafael Kubelík and made her debut in 1955. She became one of the principal English-speaking singers who emerged at Covent Garden in the 1950s and became an established member of the Covent Garden Opera Company. These included sopranos Amy Shuard, Joan Sutherland, Elsie Morison, Marie Collier, and Josephine Veasey; tenors Jon Vickers and Peter Pears; bass Michael Langdon and Geraint Evans
While often being paired with Jon Vickers, conductor and music director Rudolf Kempe was a powerful influence and nurtured her career. It was with Kempe that she had her first successes in the 1958/1959 season as “Sophie” in Luchino Visconti’s production of Der Rosenkavalier , and then as “Micaela” in Carmen.
Carlyle sang many major roles at the Royal Opera House. They included her "Nedda" in Pagliacci which brought her international acclaim in Franco Zeffirelli's controversial production during the 1959/1960 season.
Other roles, which she performed throughout many seasons included “Oscar” in Un ballo in maschera, a performance which Montague Haltrecht, in his biography of the first ROH General Director David Webster, describes as "the young Joan Carlyle makes a pageboy with a delicious vocal glitter"; “Ascanius” in Les Troyens; “Mimi” in Peter Brook’s La bohème which resulted in a BBC Television production of the opera.
In her first recording, she is featured as "The Voice From Heaven" in a Decca release of Verdi's Don Carlo in June/July 1965 with the ROH Orchestra conducted by Solti. Featured singers include Carlo Bergonzi, Renata Tebaldi, Grace Bumbry, Nicolai Ghiaurov, and Martti Talvela.
In Italian opera her successes include “Desdemona” in Verdi's Otello with James McCracken in the 1965/1966 season, and subsequently with Jon Vickers in 1972, where her performance was noted as being “experienced, dignified, and often very touching” by Philip Hope-Wallace in his review in The Guardian in June 1972.
Carlyle was no less at home on the concert platform than in the opera house, she had a concert repertoire which included Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Mozart's Requiem, Verdi's Requiem, Brahms' German Requiem and the Szymanowski Stabat Mater, Poulenc's Gloria, Orf's Carmina Burana and Mahler's Fourth Symphony.
Now retired, she lives in Wales and teaches singing privately. Also, she has taught master classes and workshops at such institutions as the Royal College of Music in London.
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London: 1959: "Glauce" in Medea with Maria Callas in the title role.
1961: “Tytanya” in Benjamin Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, conducted by Georg Solti during his first year as music director.
1962: “Pamina” in The Magic Flute conducted by Otto Klemperer.
1963: "The Countess" in Le nozze di Figaro, conducted by Solti with Tito Gobbi as the Count.
1967: “Arabella” in Richard Strauss’ Arabella. She was the first British singer to perform this role, which she sang opposite Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, conducted by Solti.
1968/69: "Jenifer" in Michael Tippett's The Midsummer Marriage. She also recorded the part in the first complete recording of this work.
La Scala, Milan: "Mimi" in La bohème conducted by Herbert von Karajan.
US Debut: March 1963: She made her American debut in Boston in the Brahms' A German Requiem with Erich Leinsdorf.
Other engagements: These included performances at the Munich Festival (where her Zdenka in Strauss's Arabella opposite Lisa Della Casa prompted her interest in the title role), in Brussels, Monaco and Holland as well as at the Staatsoper in Vienna, the Staatsoper in Berlin, the Staatsoper in Munich, the Teatro San Carlo in Naples, the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aries in 1968, and other major houses in Europe.