Yvonne Minton

Yvonne Fay Minton CBE (born December 4, 1938 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian opera singer. She is variously billed as a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto.

She studied voice on a scholarship at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She won the National Eisteddfod in Canberra, as well as number of other singing competitions. She became one of the country's leading contraltos, appearing often on radio and television and with the Sydney and Queensland orchestras.

Ms. Minton left Australia in 1961 to pursue her studies in London. The same year, she won the Kathleen Ferrier Prize for the best contralto at the International Vocalist Competition at s’Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. Her first major part in England was as Maggie Dempster in the premiere of Nicholas Maw's "One Man Show".

Shortly thereafter, she became a regular member of the company of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Lola in "Cavalleria rusticana". She created the role of Thea in Tippett's "The Knot Garden" (1970). At the Cologne Opera from 1969 (début as Sesto in "La Clemenza di Tito"). She has since appeared with most of the major English orchestras and in opera houses throughout Europe and the United States. She has also appeared at Bayreuth (Brangäne in "Tristan und Isolde") and the Salzburg Festival 1978 (Octavian). In 1973, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Octavian in Strauss's "Der Rosenkavalier". She sang the role of Countess Geschwitz in "Lulu" in Paris in 1979. She has also made many concert appearances, notably with Sir George Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 1979, she was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her contributions to music. Most people have forgotten that she sang the role of Clotilde on the 1965 Decca recording of Bellini's "Norma". Like almost everyone else on that recording, she got lost in the blazing glory of Sutherland and Horne. She actually turned in a first-rate performance.