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Rita HunterCBE (15 August 1933 – 29 April 2001) was a Britishoperaticdramatic soprano.
Rita Hunter was born inWallasey, Merseyside and lived in Limekiln Lane. During her childhood, her parents, both fans ofmusic hall, would take Rita to many of the final tours of the last music-hall artists.[1] She studied singing in Liverpool with Edwin Francis and later in London with Redvers Llewellyn andClive Carey. She joined theSadler's Wells Opera Company in 1957 and sang in the chorus with them for two years before touring with theCarl Rosa Opera Company. She then obtained a grant from the Countess of Munster Trust, which made it possible for her to study for a year with DameEva Turner. After this she went back to the Company as a principal, where her roles included Senta inThe Flying Dutchman, Musetta inLa bohème, Odabella inAttila, Fata Morgana inThe Love for Three Oranges, Donna Anna inDon Giovanni, Amelia inA Masked Ball, Santuzza inCavalleria rusticana, Elizabeth inDon Carlos and Leonora inIl trovatore.
Rita Hunter will be remembered as one of the majorWagnerian sopranos of the later 20th century, especially for her performances as all three of theBrünnhildes in theRing cycle, conducted byReginald Goodall at theEnglish National Opera.[2] In this production she was partnered byAlberto Remedios (who had studied singing at the same time as Hunter inLiverpool with Edwin Francis) asSiegfried, andNorman Bailey asWotan. The recordings based on this production, with the same artists, are regarded as amongst the finest available, even though they are sung, in accordance with ENO practice, in English.
In an interview in 1979 Hunter expressed her dissatisfaction with having to sing the same part in both English and the original languages. "I find it very difficult learning a role in different languages. The phrasing is different - one has to take breath in a different place." She also recalled having to know "Santuzza in three different English translations as well as in Italian". She found Italian easier to learn and memorize than German.[1]
In theGlen Byam Shaw Ring production, the quality of Hunter's singing and interpretation enabled audiences to set aside her outsize stature (which conformed to all prejudices about Wagnerian sopranos), and few have matched her conviction as Brünnhilde. She made her debut at the New YorkMetropolitan Opera on 19 December 1972, inDie Walküre, with great success (conductorErich Leinsdorf and DameGwyneth Jones asSieglinde). She performed theGötterdämmerung Brünnhilde at Covent Garden, and also sang the part of Senta there at short notice. Hunter's later Metropolitan Opera performances ofDie Walküre in 1975 featuredBirgit Nilsson as Sieglinde and were conducted bySixten Ehrling.
She also performed in Wagner and other operas in Munich, Seattle, New Orleans, San Francisco, and with theWelsh National Opera.
Among conductors with whom she worked whom she found sympathetic to the singer, she citedSir Simon Rattle,Carlo Felice Cillario andRichard Bonynge.[1]
In 1980 she was appointed a Commander of theOrder of the British Empire (CBE). She was also the recipient of Hon. RAM. Hon. DMUS (Doctor of Music Liverpool University) and Hon.DLIT (Doctor of Letters Warwick University)
In 1981 she moved toSydney and joined theAustralian Opera. Her autobiography,Wait till the sun shines, Nellie, was published by Hamish Hamilton in 1986. She died in Sydney in 2001, aged 67 and is survived by her daughter, Mairwyn Curtis (nee Hunter-Thomas) and her two grandchildren.
