Yvonne Kenny A M – Soprano

Yvonne Kenny is one of the most distinguished sopranos of her generation

Born in Sydney, she went to London and made her operatic debut in 1975 in Donizetti's Rosmonda d'Inghilterra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Yvonne Kenny A M – Soprano

Yvonne Kenny is one of the most distinguished sopranos of her generation

Born in Sydney, she went to London and made her operatic debut in 1975 in Donizetti's Rosmonda d'Inghilterra at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.

Appearances

After winning the Kathleen Ferrier Competition she joined the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where her roles have included Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Ilia (Idomeneo), Marzelline (Fidelio), Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Adina (L'elisir d'amore), Liu (Turandot), Aspasia (Mitridate) and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni).

She has built herself an enviable international reputation as a dazzling interpreter of Handel's soprano roles and has enjoyed particular success in the title roles in Semele and Alcina (Covent Garden, La Fenice, Venice and Opera de Nancy) Romilda in Xerxes for English National Opera (both in London and on tour to the USSR) and Bayerische Staatsoper, Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare and Armida in Rinaldo for Opera Australia (winning a Green Room Award for the former) and the title role in Deborah at the BBC Promenade concerts (also recorded).

International appearances include the Wiener Staatsoper (Susanna, Cinna in Lucia Silla , the Countess in Capriccio and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier); La Scala, Milan (Pamina);Staatsoper, Berlin (Countess/Capriccio and the title role in La Didone); Opera de Paris (Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni); Hamburg (Oscar); English National Opera (Marschallin/Der Rosenkavalier and Purcell's The Fairy Queen); Zurich and Glyndebourne (Donna Elvira/Don Giovanni) and her first Countess in Le nozze di Figaro for the Washington Opera which she has repeated at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. She returns frequently to Australia where she has sung Gilda (Rigoletto), Pamina, Susanna, Fiordiligi (Così fan tutte), Cleopatra, Alice Ford (Falstaff) and the title toles in Maria Stuarda, Alcina, Massenet's Manon and L'incoronazione di Poppea.

Yvonne Kenny appears regularly on the concert platform throughout Europe and North America and has appeared at the Edinburgh, Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence Festivals, in Carnegie Hall and is a regular guest at the BBC Promenade concerts. She also became the first artist to give an official performance at the newly reopened Royal Opera House (a recital in Floral Hall). Recent Australian concert engagements include Strauss' Four Last Songs and Ross Edwards' Second Symphony with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, a gala concert with Bryn Terfel at the Leeuwin Estate Winery in Western Australia televised nationally on ABC and an Australian Tour with Musica Viva.

Publicity photograph, 2024
London

Recordings

Her numerous recordings include Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (Decca/Solti); Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Mitridate and Lucio Silla (Teldec/Harnoncourt); Elgar's The Kingdom (RCA/Slatkin); Stravinsky's Pulcinella (Sony/Salonen); Britten's The Beggar's Opera (Collins/Bedford); Gloriana (Decca/Mackerras) and Handel's Deborah (Hyperion/King), Bouquet of Melodies (Walsingham Classics), a collection of Mozart arias with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and Great Operatic Arias 1&2 (both on Chandos).

She is internationally recognised for her recordings of French and Italian 'bel canto' repertoire for Opera Rara including the award-winning Emilia di Liverpool and was the voice of Dame Nellie Melba in the TV mini-series.

On the ABC Classics label her recordings are the award-winning Simple Gifts, Something Wonderful, Handel Arias with the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, which was awarded Best Classical Recording in the 1998 Aria Awards, a collection of Christmas music A Christmas Gift, A Portrait of Yvonne Kenny, Make Believe a recording of Broadway songs and more recently The Salley Gardens a Treasury of English Song. Her most recent release is the title role in Kalman's Czardasfürstin conducted by Richard Bonynge on Naxos.

Engagements

Engagements in 2000/2001 included Cleopatra, Countess (Capriccio - new production) and the title role in Kalman's Gypsy Princess for Opera Australia, a tour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, performing the Olympic Anthem at the closing ceremony of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, the Marschallin for Minnesota Opera, San Francisco Opera and in concert in Denmark and with Sir Charles Mackerras in London, Ellen Orford (Peter Grimes) for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Alice Ford for English National Opera (recorded by Chandos), Christine in Intermezzo at Garsington, and The Merry Widow (new production) for San Francisco Opera.

Yvonne Kenny's 2002 engagements included Marschallin for the New Zealand International Festival, her role debut as the Governess in The Turn of the Screw for Opera Australia, a national tour for Musica Viva, concerts in San Francisco and the title role in Alcina at the Göttingen Festival, both under the baton of Nicholas McGegan, and performances for the West Australian Symphony Orchestra.

Engagements in 2003 included concerts with the Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide Symphony Orchestras, recitals at the Art Gallery of NSW and for ABC Classic FM, a gala performance with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra at the Bundaleer Festival in South Australia, a gala concert to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the Sydney Opera House, and the Countess in Capriccio for Dresden Staatsoper.

In 2004, Yvonne Kenny's performances included Marschallin for the Vienna Staatsoper, the title role in a new production of The Merry Widow for Opera Australia in Sydney and Melbourne, Marschallin with Opera Australia in Sydney, a repeat of her acclaimed performance as the Governess for the Cheltehman Festival, recitals in various centres and a solo concert at the 2004 BBC Proms. 2005 included her debut as "Elle" in la Voix Humaine by Poulenc for Opera Australia in Melbourne and Alice in Falstaff in Sydney.

Highlights in 2006 and 2007 included the creation of her own one woman show "A Touch of Venus" with pianist Iain Burnside performed at the Wigmore Hall and followed by an Australian tour for Musica Viva. Role debuts followed in Fedora for Opera Holland Park; Lady Billows in Albert Herring for the Salzburger Landesteater and Blanche Dubois in a new and acclaimed production of A Streetcar Named Desire for Opera Australia in Sydney.

2008 saw the release of a new recording for ABC Classics of Viennese Operetta arias "Vienna City of my Dreams" with Richard Bonynge and the MSO; a return to the Leeuwin Estate in WA for two celebrity performances and the recording of Strauss's Four Last Songs.

2009 includes concerts of Viennese Operetta with MSO, her role debut as Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and a revival of A Streetcar Named Desire for Opera Australia.

2010 began with award winning Sydney Festival performances of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex - as Jocasta with the SSO in the Sydney Opera House Concert Hall, in a staged production by Peter Sellars. She was the “party guest “ as Marlene Dietrich in OA's Melbourne season of Die Fledermaus and then performed around Australia OA's concert tour called “Singing for Love” with tenor David Hobson and accompanist Guy Noble.

Highlights in 2011 include a “Celebration of Percy Grainger” at London's Kings Place, a recital at Australia House in Honour of the Governor General and a Gala Concert Celebration for Sir Charles Mackerras at ENO , where she performed the Trio from Der Rosenkavalier. She also reprises Merry Widow at West Green House Opera and performs Waltons's Facade as Narrator of the Edith Sitwell poems with Sir Andrew Davis and the Melbourne Symphony.