Isobel Buchanan (born 15 March 1954) is a Scottish operatic soprano.
Early life and career Isobel Buchanan was born in 1954 in Glasgow, Scotland. In 1971, aged 17, she received a scholarship to the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where in 1974, she was awarded with Student of the Year prize. She also won the Governor's Recital Prize that same year.Isobel Buchanan biography, Samling Foundation; accessed 18 November 2008.
She signed a three-year contract with The Australian Opera in 1975 to pursue her career in singing. The next year, she made her professional operatic debut as Pamina in the company's production of The Magic Flute. She was the youngest Principal Artist in the company's history.
In 1978 she again played Pamina in a new production by John Cox at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. (She returned to Glyndebourne in 1981 as Countess Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and reprised the role at the 1984 Festival.)Biography, Liner notes for Isobel Buchanan: Songs of Scotland, Lismor Recordings (LCOM6038); accessed 18 November 2008.
In 1978, she sang Micaela in Carmen at the Vienna State Opera, conducted by Carlos Kleiber with Plácido Domingo as Don José and Elena Obraztsova as Carmen, in a production by Franco Zeffirelli. (She had sung Michaela in Sydney.) She continued adding to her repertoire with Sophie in Massenet's Werther and a Flower Maiden in Wagner's Parsifal at the Royal Opera House in 1979.
Since then, she has appeared at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Scottish Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Hamburg State Opera, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, and the Cologne Opera. She has collaborated with conductors Georg Solti, Bernard Haitink, Andrew Davis, Colin Davis, Sergiu Celibidache, John Pritchard, Neville Marriner, Carlos Kleiber and Yehudi Menuhin.
The BBC made a documentary of her career in 1981. She featured in three-part series called Isobel which was recorded in August 1983 and aired on BBC the following April. In 1983 she played Diana in the BBC television production of Orpheus in the Underworld."Orpheus in the Underworld", British Film Institute, retrieved 10 April 2013. and also appeared in TV programmes such as Face the Music and Parkinson.
In 1990, she sang at Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother's 90th Birthday celebration at the London Palladium in a section dedicated to Scotland. She sang "My Ain Folk" and appeared with Her Majesty's PM John Spoore and actress Geraldine McEwan with a reading of recollections of childhood in Glamis.
Family She is married to the Australian-born English stage actor Jonathan Hyde. They have two daughters; one of them is a British actress, Georgia King.Gordon, Amanda - Out & About: RSC Goes Brooklyn Even Bigger Than BAM, The New York Sun, 10 October 2007. Accessed 18 November 2008.
Repertoire Her repertory includes: YearComposerOperaRole(s) 1973 Puccini Suor Angelica Sister Genovieffa 1976 Delibes Lakmé Ellen Mozart The Magic Flute Pamina Puccini La bohème Mimi Mozart Così fan tutte Dorabella 1978 Bizet Carmen Micaëla 1979 Verdi Simon Boccanegra Maria Boccanegra Massenet Werther Sophie Wagner Parsifal Flower Maiden 1980 Bellini La sonnambula Lisa 1981 Mozart The Marriage of Figaro Countess Almaviva 1982 Mozart Don Giovanni Donna Elvira 1984 Poulenc Dialogues of the Carmelites Blanche de la Force
Recordings Bizet: Carmen (Elena Obraztsova, Plácido Domingo, Isobel Buchanan, Wiener Staatsoper orchestra and chorus, Carlos Kleiber) DVD TDK 8 24121 00097 4 Bellini: La sonnambula (Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Isobel Buchanan, Della Jones, National Philharmonic Orchestra, London Opera Chorus, Richard Bonynge) CD Decca 2LH417-424 Delibes: Lakmé (Joan Sutherland, Isobel Buchanan, Huguette Tourangeau, Henri Wilden, John Pringle, Elizabeth Sydney Orchestra, Australian Opera Chorus, Richard Bonynge) DVD Kultur Video 32031 00389 Massenet: Werther (José Carreras, Frederica von Stade, Isobel Buchanan, Thomas Allen, Robert Lloyd, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Colin Davis) CD Philips 00289 475 7567 Puccini: Suor Angelica (Joan Sutherland, Christa Ludwig, Anne Collins, Isobel Buchanan, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Richard Bonynge) CD Decca 458218
See also Massenet: Werther (Colin Davis recording)
References
External links
Photograph of Buchanan rehearsing Cosi fan tutte in the Sydney opera house, 1976, National Library of Australia. Performances in opera houses, conductors Frome Festival, 2008. Interview with Isobel Buchanan by Bruce Duffie, 14 October 1981