Glenys Linos

Glenys Linos (born September 29, 1937 in Cairo ; † January 30, 2020 in Vienna ) was a British-Greek opera singer ( mezzo-soprano ).

Life

Glenys Linos, daughter of an Englishman and a Greek woman, was born as Glenys Birch in Cairo. She grew up in Great Britain , where she also attended school. Linos studied music at the Athens Conservatory ; first she learned the flute , but then switched to singing . She received singing lessons from the famous opera singer Elvira de Hidalgo in Milan ; later she asked Dennis Hall in Bern for advice on vocal techniques. Until 1974 she performed under the name Glenys Loulis. Linos first sang in Germany . She had permanent engagements at the Stadttheater Mainz (1968–1969), the Stadttheater Ulm (1969–1973) and the State Theater Wiesbaden (1973–1977). Linos has performed regularly at the Zurich Opera House since 1977 . Until 1982 she was a permanent member of the ensemble there; after that she was still tied to the house with a permanent guest contract.

In Zurich she sang the Messagera in L'Orfeo (1978; musical direction: Nikolaus Harnoncourt , staging: Jean-Pierre Ponnelle ), the Countess Geschwitz in Lulu (1979; in the Swiss premiere of the version supplemented by Friedrich Cerha , director: Götz Friedrich ), Charlotte in Werther (1979, together with Peter Dvorsky ), Brangäne in Tristan und Isolde (1980, premiere: June 1980 as part of the International June Festival), Giulietta in Hoffmann's Stories (premiere: September 1980, Direction: Hans Neugebauer , with Alfredo Kraus as partner) and the title role in Penthesilea (1984/1985). Countess Geschwitz sang it "with a full mezzo-soprano" in the Zurich Lulu resumption in the 1980/81 season (from May 1981). In April 1981 she was the "beautiful voice" Brangäne in Wagner's music drama Tristan und Isolde at the Zurich Opera House , as partner of Janis Martin , who made her role debut as Isolde in this performance.

In Zurich she also appeared in several seasons as Bizet's “ Carmen ” (in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's production). She sang this role over 200 times in the course of her career at various stages, including at the Opéra de Paris in a series of performances in the Palais des Sports , at the Bavarian State Opera , the Deutsche Oper Berlin , in Bern, Cardiff and at other French houses such as Toulouse (under Michel Plasson ), Nancy (under Marc Soustrot ), Orléans and with the Paris Opera Ensemble (under Pierre Dervaux , with Guy Chauvet as José) in a special performance in the Bayonne bullring .

In 1971 she appeared at the Bayreuth Festival in the role of Schwertleite in the opera Die Walküre . In 1978 she sang the wet nurse in the opera Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Munich Opera Festival . In 1979 she appeared at the Wiesbaden State Theater as Adriano in Richard Wagner's early work Rienzi . In the 1981/82 season she appeared at the Stadttheater Bern as Santuzza in a new production of Cavalleria rusticana . In 1982 she appeared at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino in Ken Russell's production of Stravinsky's Rake's Progress ; In December of the same year she sang the Brangäne in Wagner's musical drama Tristan und Isolde in two concert performances in the Casino-Saal in Bern, "with considerable vocal potential" . From 1984 to 1986 she sang the mother role of Storge at the Salzburg Festival in a scenic implementation of the oratorio Jephtha . In 1985 she appeared at the Opéra National de Paris as Laura in the opera Der Steinerne Gast by Alexander Sergejewitsch Dargomyschski . In 1986 she took over the Geneviève in the opera Pelléas et Mélisande at La Scala in Milan with great success . There is also a live recording of these performances under the musical direction of Claudio Abbado , which was later published on CD. In the 1987/88 season she appeared at the Basel Theater as Mrs. Quickly in Falstaff . In the 1988/89 season she took on the role of Auntie in a new production of the opera Peter Grimes at the Zurich Opera House ; she sang this role in the resumption of the 1989/90 season (from September 1989).

She has also performed at the Royal Opera Covent Garden in London (February 1981 as Countess Geschwitz in Lulu ), at the Monte Carlo Opera House (1981 as Annina in Der Rosenkavalier , 1984 as Charlotte), at the Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège (1982 / 83), at the Nice Opera House (1984 as Preziosilla in Die Macht des Schicksals ), at the Vlaamse Opera in Gent and Antwerp (1984 as Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana ), in Lausanne (1986 as Sorceress in Dido and Aeneas ), at the Opera Rome (November 1986 as Irmengarda in the Spontini opera Agnese di Hohenstaufen ), at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna (1987 as Clairon in Capriccio ) and at the Teatro Nuovo in Spoleto (1989 as Klytämnestra in Elektra ).

In the 1990/91 season she sang the role of the widow Leokadja Begbick in a new production of Kurt Weill's opera Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny at the Frankfurt Opera House . In 1992 she also took her leave of the opera stage in this role.

Linos emerged as a concert singer with a wide-ranging repertoire, ranging from baroque music to Gustav Mahler ( Das Lied von der Erde ) and including contemporary music of the 20th century. In 1985 she sang the alto solo in the symphony Roméo et Juliette , op. 17 by Hector Berlioz, at the Musikverein Essen under the musical direction of Heinz Wallberg . In 1987 she sang in the oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri with the State Philharmonic of Rhineland-Palatinate and the Beethoven Choir Ludwigshafen . In April 1990 she sang the Verdi Requiem with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich .

In 1980 she appeared as a singer on the television show One Will Win .

After the end of her career, Linos worked intensively as a singing teacher and singing professor, first in Zurich in the 1990s and at the Royal Academy of Music in London in London , then in Vienna.

Linos was married to the Austrian dramaturge and musicologist Gerhard Persché .

literature

• Karl-Josef Kutsch , Leo Riemens : Large singer lexicon . Fourth, enlarged and updated edition. Munich 2003. Volume 4: Kainz – Menkes, pp. 2741/2742. ISBN 3-598-11598-9
• Paul Suter: Glenys Linos . In: Andreas Kotte (Ed.): Theater Lexikon der Schweiz . Volume 2, Chronos, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0715-9 , p. 1116 f.

Web links

• Glenys Linos in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Works by and about Glenys Linos in the catalog of the German National Library
• Glenys Linos in the Bavarian Musicians' Lexicon Online (BMLO)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Triumph of the Artistic Mind - and the Beautiful Voices . In: Opera world . Issue 5/1979
2. ↑ Linos received mixed reviews on her role debut as Brangäne. The critics of the opera magazine Orpheus described Linos on the one hand as “overwhelmed, but honestly tried Brangäne”, but also spoke of a “remarkable” performance: “You can wish for a little more continuous strength, but a certain charm is one Quotes from: Irene Burgauer: INTERNATIONAL JUNE FESTIVALS . Performance review. In: Orpheus . Issue 9/10. September / October 1980. Pages 735/736; to G. Linos there on page 736./Günter Peter: ALSO ... . Performance review. In: Orpheus . Issue 9/10. September / October 1980. Pages 735-737; on G. Linos there on page 737. In the magazine Opernwelt the following assessment was made: “Young voices shape this new Zurich“ Tristan ”: René Kollo as Tristan, Hildegard Behrens as Isolde, Glenys Linos as Brangäne. They all (who made their debut here in their roles) sang lean, carefree, relaxed . ”From: Gerold Fierz: MEDIEVAL ROMANTISCH . Performance review. In: Opera world . Issue 7, July 1979, pages 11-12.
3. ↑ Karl Heinz Huber: ADDITION ... . Performance review. In: Orpheus . Issue 7/8. July / August 1981. Page 621.
4. ↑ MEH (= Margot E. Hoffmann): SWITZERLAND – ZURICH: AUSSERDEM . Performance review. In: Orpheus . Issued June 6, 1981. Page 474/475; to G. Linos there on page 475.
5. ↑ Luminous voices in the dark  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Criticism; Southgerman newspaper  
6. ↑ The opera Rienzi, the last of the tribunes by Richard Wagner ( Memento of the original of August 14, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . www.wagnerportal.de 
7. ↑ Christoph Winzeler: “TRISTAN” in concert . Performance review. In: Orpheus . Issue February 2, 1983. Page 182.
8. ↑ Glenys Linos  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Role directory; Salzburg Festival  
9. ↑ Le convive de pierre ( Memento of the original dated November 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . (PDF file; 733 kB) 1984–1985 season  
10. ↑ Teatro alla Scala 1985–1986
11. ↑ Pelléas et Mélisande ( Memento of the original of November 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Discography; operone.de 
12. ↑ Glenys Linos . International who's who in music and musicians' directory (excerpts from Google Books)
13. ↑ Michael Arndt: WITHOUT A BITE . Performance review. In: Orpheus . Issued January 1, 1991. Page 48.
14. ↑ The Essener Musikverein under Heinz Wallberg  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . (PDF file; 1.42 MB)  
15. ↑ Beethovenchor Ludwigshafen ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . (PDF file; 86 kB) Concerts since 1924  
16. ↑ Verdi-Requiem ( Memento of the original from August 31, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Zurich Bach Choir, April 1990