Dame Anne Evans kindly leads this morning’s event with emerging young singers.

She made her debut as Countess Ceprano in Rigoletto 1967 in Geneva and went on to make her debut in a leading role in 1968 as Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte at the then Sadler’s Wells, later English National Opera in 1968 to critical acclaim.

In the early years of her career, she sang many of the leading Puccini and Mozart soprano roles, like Tosca and Countess Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro. In the late sixties, she started to work with the lighter Wagner roles, like Elsa in Lohengrin and Senta in The Flying Dutchman, roles that became trademark. However, it was the role of Brünnhilde that would earn her international fame, most notably in the Wagner temple of Bayreuth in 1989-1992, a performance which was also captured on CD and video (now transferred to DVD, and announced on Blu-ray by the end of 2012), conducted by Daniel Barenboim and directed by Harry Kupfer. In this performance she sang with Siegfried Jerusalem and John Tomlinson. She also earned an Olivier Award for this production. She also played Isolde in Tristan und Isolde, a role often considered to be her finest achievement.

In 2003, she retired from performing to dedicate herself to giving Masterclasses and to coach other British singers in Wagnerian performance techniques. Her last public performance was in 2005 in a comeback performance in Cardiff doing excerpts from her celebrated Isolde and other Wagner performances.

She was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in the 2000 Queen’s Birthday Honours “for services to music”.

Founded in 2012, the International Opera Awards are the ‘Oscars of the opera world’ with winners from more than 25 countries. The Opera Awards Foundation, their charity and raison d’être, has so far raised over £240,000 to support aspiring talent in opera throughout the world. Dame Anne Evans has been a patron of the awards since they were founded. The Foundation has supported numerous Opera Prelude singers over the years and is delighted to be collaborating to present this morning’s Masterclass.

For more information about The Opera Awards Foundation please visit www.operaawards.org or contact info@operaawards.org 020 7104 2057