Gillian Knight

Gillian Knight (born November 1 1934) is an English singer and actor, known for her performances in the contralto roles of the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and an opera career with Sadler's Wells Opera (now known as English National Opera), Covent Garden, and internationally.

Beginnings and D'Oyly Carte years

Gillian Knight was born in Redditch, Worcester, and educated in Birmingham. She won a five-year scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music, studying and appearing in opera. While still at the Academy she also appeared in concerts, oratorio, and on television with the Linden Singers. She joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1959, going on tour immediately in eight of the leading contralto roles and succeeding Ann Drummond-Grant as principal contralto upon the latter's death in September of that year.

Knight spent almost six years with the D'Oyly Carte, appearing as Little Buttercup in "H.M.S. Pinafore", Ruth in "The Pirates of Penzance", Lady Jane in "Patience", the Queen of the Fairies in "Iolanthe", Lady Blanche in "Princess Ida", Katisha in "The Mikado", Dame Hannah in "Ruddigore", Dame Carruthers in "The Yeomen of the Guard", and the Duchess of Plaza-Toro in "The Gondoliers".

Knight married D'Oyly Carte master carpenter Trevor Morrison in 1960. She left the D'Oyly Carte organisation in 1965.

After the D'Oyly Carte years

In the 1960s, Knight joined Sadler's Wells Opera, playing such roles as Suzuki in "Madama Butterfly", Ragonde in "Count Ory", Berta in "The Barber of Seville", Maddalena in "Rigoletto", Isabella in "The Italian Girl in Algiers", Dryade in "Ariadne on Naxos", the title role in "Iolanthe", and Lady Jane in "Patience".

In 1970, Knight made her Royal Opera House debut in the title role in Bizet's "Carmen". The role brought her international acclaim and several performances opposite Plácido Domingo. She also performed at Covent Garden in "Rigoletto", "Il trovatore", "Otello", "Falstaff", "Die Meistersinger", "Semele", "The Fiery Angel", "Salome", and Wagner's "Ring" cycle. She has also sung at Paris Opéra, at the Tanglewood Festival, in Pittsburgh, Frankfurt, Basel (where she sang in the world premiere of "Faust" by Luca Lombardi), and with Scottish Opera, Opera North, and the New Israeli Opera.

In 1981, Knight played The Old Lady in Leonard Bernstein's "Candide", and the following year she sang the title role in "The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein" at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Between 1984 and 1990, she sang Ruth in "Pirates", Little Buttercup in "Pinafore", and Katisha in "The Mikado" for the summer opera seasons presented by The Lyric Opera of Dallas. In 1988 she appeared with the revived D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as Dame Carruthers in "Yeomen" and the Fairy Queen in "Iolanthe". Beginning in the 1990s, Knight toured in Gilbert and Sullivan productions with the Carl Rosa Opera Company.

Knight's daughter, Rebecca Knight, is now an opera singer (see Opera Babes).

Recordings

With the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and Decca Records, she recorded Little Buttercup (1960), Lady Jane (1961), the Queen of the Fairies (1960), Dame Hannah (1962), Dame Carruthers (1964), and the Duchess of Plaza-Toro (1961). She was also Kate in a 1966 BBC radio broadcast of "Pirates" and was the voice of Dame Hannah in the 1967 Halas & Batchelor cartoon version of "Ruddigore".

Knight appeared as Ruth in the 1982 Brent Walker television production of "Pirates". In 1989 she recorded seven roles in a BBC radio series of the operas: Lady Sangazure in "The Sorcerer", Buttercup, Lady Jane, Fairy Queen, Katisha, Lady Sophy in "Utopia Limited", and the Baroness von Krakenfeldt in "The Grand Duke". In 1993 she was Ruth in the Welsh National Opera recording of "Pirates", and in 1997 she was a soloist in a BBC 2 G&S concert broadcast from Cheltenham. Knight plays Katisha on the Carl Rosa 2001 video and CD recordings of "The Mikado" and was a soloist on the Symposium CD recording of Sullivan's cantata, "The Martyr of Antioch", from the 2000 International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival.

Principal among her operatic recordings is that of "Madama Butterfly" (1978), opposite Renata Scotto and Domingo, conducted by Lorin Maazel for CBS/Sony. On video is the Covent Garden production of "Salome" (1992), with Maria Ewing and Michael Devlin, in Sir Peter Hall's production.

She also appears in a wide range of specialist recordings for the "Reader's Digest", notably the 'Timeless Favourites' series of 3-CD sets produced by Jay Productions for the "Reader's Digest" organisation between 1995 and 2000. [Reader's Digest (1996) "Timeless Favourites: Coward & Novello" Catalogue No RDCD 1351-3]

Notes

References

*cite book|last=Ayre|first=Leslie|year=1972|title=The Gilbert & Sullivan Companion|location=London|publisher=W.H. Allen & Co Ltd Introduction by Martyn Green.
* (pp. 4-15)

External links

* [http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/whowaswho/K/KnightGillian.htm Gillian Knight] at Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte
* [http://pinafore.www3.50megs.com/g-knight.html Profile of Knight]
* [http://www.bruceduffie.com/knightx.html Gillian Knight interview] by Bruce Duffie