Lynne Dawson

Born: June 3, 1956 - York, England

Lynne Dawson is established as one of Britain’s most versatile and popular sopranos and enjoys a busy career which encompasses recitals, opera, concerts and recordings at the highest international level.

Lynne Dawson has appeared with many of the world’s leading conductors including Carlo Maria Giulini, Daniel Barenboim, Zubin Mehta, Vladimir Ashkenazy, John Eliot Gardiner, Riccardo Chailly, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Marc Minkowski and Chales Mackerras and made recordings for all the major labels. She now has over sixty CD’s in her personal recording catalogue including Don Giovanni (EMI/Roger Norrington), Monteverdi’s Orfeo (DG/John Eliot Gardiner), Mozart’s Requiem (CBS/Carlo Maria Giulini), Ariodante (DG/Minkowski), Mozart’s Zaïde (Harmonia Mundi/Paul Goodwin) and the award-winning recording of Orff’s Carmina Burana with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Herbert Blomstedt. Recent and future releases include Mozart’s C-minor Mass for Erato, Georg Frideric Handel’s L’Allegro for EMI, Lili Boulanger’s Faust et Hélène for Chandos, G.F. Handel’s Hercules for DG Archiv and a solo disc of English Songs for Hyperion.

Lynne Dawson’s operatic roles have included Zdenka (Chatelet), Fiordiligi (Naples), Constanze (La Monnaie), Iphigenie en Aulide (Aix-en-Provence), Gluck’s Orfeo (Nice and Barcelona), Amenaide in Rossini’s Tancredi, G.F. Handel’s Cleopatra and Pamina at the State Opera in Berlin. Last season began with one of the principle roles in the world première performances of Elliot Carter’s opera What Next? at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin conducted by Daniel Barenboim with additional performances in Chicago and New York.

Lynne Dawson has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras; highlights include J.S. Bach's B Minor Mass (BWV 232), Johannes Brahms and Mozart Requiems at La Scala, Shéhèrazade at the Proms, Mozart Requiem and C Minor Mass at the Salzburg Festival, televised performances of St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra as well as Beethoven Symphony No.9 and Strauss Vier letze lieder with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. In September 1997, Lynne Dawson was watched by millions world-wide on the occasion of the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales.

As well as including her recital début at the Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires, Lynne Dawson’s 2001 season included Schumann’s Faustszenen with Jeffrey Tate in Turin, Haydn’s Creation with Sir Neville Marriner in Palermo, Gustav Mahler, Symphony No. 2 in Kuala Lumpur with Kees Baakels as well as concert performances of G.F. Handel’s Ariodante with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre.

Highlights of recent seasons (2005) engagements include her sell-out recital début at the Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires, Dido & Aeneas with Thomas Hengelbrock in Baden-Baden and tours with Les Musiciens du Louvre/Marc Minkowski (G.F. Handel’s Ariodante and Hercules), the Freiburger Barockorchester (Mozart’s La Finta Giardiniera), Combattimento Consort Amsterdam (Haydn’s L’infedeltà delusa) and The King’s Consort (Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas). Concert engagements have taken her throughout Europe and South America in a multi-faceted repertoire including J.S. Bach’s Magnificat (BWV 243), Haydn’s Berenice che fai, G. Mahler’s Symphony No 2, Edward Elgar’s The Kingdom, Schumann’s Faustszenen, Gorecki Symphony No 3, Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 and Requiems by Fauré, J. Brahms, Verdi and Mozart.

Last summer (2004), Lynne Dawson sang Cleopatre in G.F. Handel’s Giulio Cesare at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona with future operatic engagements taking her to De Vlaamse Opera for Richard III, a new commission by Giorgio Battistelli and on a tour of France as G.F. Handel’s Agrippina with Jean-Claude Malgoire. On the concert platform, Lynne will be heard in many of Europe’s major concert halls including those in London, Berlin, Turin, Edinburgh, Paris, Istanbul, Warsaw, Amsterdam and Milan. The release of her next recording, French song with Julius Drake, is scheduled for the autumn of 2005.