Barbara Bonney

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Barbara Bonney (born April 14, 1956 in Montclair , New Jersey , USA ) is an American opera singer (soprano) and vocal teacher. She lives in Salzburg.

Life

Barbara Bonney studied singing in Canada and with Walter Raninger at the Mozarteum in Salzburg . Her first instrument was the cello, and she only switched to singing in Salzburg.

In 1979 she became a member of the ensemble at the Staatstheater Darmstadt , where she appeared in her first solo role as Anna in Die Lustige Frauen von Windsor . Many more roles followed. In the following years she performed at the Frankfurt Opera , the Hamburg State Opera and the Bavarian State Opera in Munich . In 1984 she performed as Sophie at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden . In 1985 she made her debut at La Scala in Milan as Pamina . Her first role at the Metropolitan Opera in New York was the Naiad in Richard Strauss' Ariadne auf Naxos in March 1988 . Many other engagements followed.

Bonney is known for her clear, "bright" lyrical soprano. On the opera stage, Sophie in Rosenkavalier , Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro and Pamina in the Magic Flute are among her star roles.

Her discography includes over 90 recordings, including 15 solo CDs.

She became known to a larger non-classical audience in 2001 through the soundtrack to Steven Spielberg's science fiction film AI - Artificial Intelligence (music: John Williams ).

She is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music , visiting professor at the Royal Academy of Music in London and has been teaching at the Salzburg Mozarteum since the winter semester 2007/2008 .

Barbara Bonney was married twice, first to the Swedish baritone Håkan Hagegård , then to the British baroque violinist and later music manager Maurice Whitaker.

In August 2006 Bonney canceled all concerts and no longer appeared in public. Contrary to the first rumors about health problems, Bonney declared her absence from the stage in July 2007 with the difficult divorce from Maurice Whitaker, who had also been her manager. In August 2007 she stepped in for Thomas Hampson at the Rheingau Music Festival and thus ended her break from the stage.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Matthew Westphal: Barbara Bonney Returns to Concert Stage After Year-Long Hiatus , Playbill Arts . July 23, 2007. Retrieved July 25, 2007.