Deborah Riedel
Encyclopedia
Deborah Riedel was an Australian operatic soprano. Hers is generally regarded as one of the greatest voices ever produced in Australia. She died of cancer at the height of her career, at the age of 50.
Riedel was born in Carlingford, New South Wales
(in north-western Sydney). She gained a Diploma of Music Education at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
, and taught for some time at Riverstone High School. She joined the chorus of Opera Australia
(OA) in 1983. She won a number of important competitions, which enabled her to study overseas. Back in Australia, she sang mezzo roles with Victoria State Opera and West Australian Opera. At OA, her mentor Richard Bonynge
guided her transition from mezzo to soprano. She first came to notice when she sang Leila in Georges Bizet
's The Pearl Fishers
with Victoria State Opera in 1986. This was backed up with Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro
with OA in 1989. That year, she was so successful from her auditions in Europe that she was forced to refuse offers. She sang with such opera companies as the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; the Rome Opera; the Vienna State Opera, and many others.
She won the inaugural Givenchy French Operatic Award in 1994. Her American debut that year was as Amina in La sonnambula
in San Diego. She also appeared with the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco Opera.
Her work in Australia included roles in The Magic Flute
, Don Giovanni
, Maria Stuarda
, Norma
, La traviata
, Il trovatore
, La bohème
, Tosca
, Faust
, The Tales of Hoffmann, Turandot
and others. Internationally she sang the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier
and Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes
.
In 2004, she was Sieglinde in the first Wagner
Ring Cycle
ever staged in Australia, by the State Opera of South Australia.
Riedel was diagnosed with cancer in 1999, but she continued working until close to her death, on 8 January 2009. She is survived by her husband, tenor Paul Ferris.
Riedel was born in Carlingford, New South Wales
Carlingford, New South Wales
Carlingford is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Carlingford is located 22 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of the The Hills Shire, Hornsby Shire and the City of Parramatta...
(in north-western Sydney). She gained a Diploma of Music Education at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is one of the oldest and most prestigious music schools in Australia...
, and taught for some time at Riverstone High School. She joined the chorus of Opera Australia
Opera Australia
Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of its time spent in the The Arts Centre in Melbourne...
(OA) in 1983. She won a number of important competitions, which enabled her to study overseas. Back in Australia, she sang mezzo roles with Victoria State Opera and West Australian Opera. At OA, her mentor Richard Bonynge
Richard Bonynge
Richard Alan Bonynge, AO, CBE is an Australian conductor and pianist.Bonynge was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for...
guided her transition from mezzo to soprano. She first came to notice when she sang Leila in Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
's The Pearl Fishers
Les pêcheurs de perles
Les pêcheurs de perles is an opera in three acts by the French composer Georges Bizet, to a libretto by Eugène Cormon and Michel Carré. It was first performed on 30 September 1863 at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, and was given 18 performances in its initial run...
with Victoria State Opera in 1986. This was backed up with Susanna in The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
with OA in 1989. That year, she was so successful from her auditions in Europe that she was forced to refuse offers. She sang with such opera companies as the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; the Rome Opera; the Vienna State Opera, and many others.
She won the inaugural Givenchy French Operatic Award in 1994. Her American debut that year was as Amina in La sonnambula
La sonnambula
La sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime by Eugène Scribe and Jean-Pierre Aumer called La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur.The first...
in San Diego. She also appeared with the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco Opera.
Her work in Australia included roles in The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
, Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni
Don Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
, Maria Stuarda
Maria Stuarda
Maria Stuarda is a tragic opera, , in two acts, by Gaetano Donizetti, to a libretto by Giuseppe Bardari, based on Friedrich Schiller's 1800 play Maria Stuart....
, Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
, La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, Il trovatore
Il trovatore
Il trovatore is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Salvadore Cammarano, based on the play El Trovador by Antonio García Gutiérrez. Cammarano died in mid-1852 before completing the libretto...
, La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
, Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
, Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, The Tales of Hoffmann, Turandot
Turandot
Turandot is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni.Though Puccini's first interest in the subject was based on his reading of Friedrich Schiller's adaptation of the play, his work is most nearly based on the earlier text Turandot...
and others. Internationally she sang the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
and Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the Peter Grimes section of George Crabbe's poem The Borough...
.
In 2004, she was Sieglinde in the first Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
Ring Cycle
Der Ring des Nibelungen
Der Ring des Nibelungen is a cycle of four epic operas by the German composer Richard Wagner . The works are based loosely on characters from the Norse sagas and the Nibelungenlied...
ever staged in Australia, by the State Opera of South Australia.
Riedel was diagnosed with cancer in 1999, but she continued working until close to her death, on 8 January 2009. She is survived by her husband, tenor Paul Ferris.
Sources
- The Australian, 9 January 2009
- Moffatt OxenbouldMoffatt OxenbouldMoffatt Benjamin Oxenbould AM is an Australian opera director.He was Artistic Director of Opera Australia from 1984 until his retirement in 1999. He had been part of the company since he graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art in 1962...
, Obituary 'Opera singer who scaled the heights', The Age, 15 January 2009