Field, Helen
Field, Helen
Field, Helen, Welsh soprano; b. Awyn, May 14, 1951. She was educated at the Royal Northern Coll. of Music in Manchester and at the Royal Coll. of Music in London. In 1976 she made her operatic debut as Offenbach’s Eurydice at the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff, where she returned in subsequent years in such roles as Desdemona, Tatiana, Marzelline, Micaela, the Vixen, and Jenufa. Following her debut at London’s Co vent Garden as Emma in Khovanschchina in 1982, she sang at the English National Opera in London from 1983, where she was particularly admired for her portrayals of Pamina, Gilda, Marguerite, and Violetta. In 1987 she sang the title role in the British premiere of Strauss’s Daphne with Opera North in Leeds. She created the role of Jo Ann in Tippett’s New Year in Houston in 1989, a role she reprised at her Glyndebourne Festival debut in 1990. In 1994 she returned to Glyndebourne to create the role of Pearl in Birtwistle’s The Second Mrs. Kong. She created the title role in MacMillan’s Ines de Castro at the Edinburgh Festival in 1996. In 1997 she sang Salome at Covent Garden, and then was engaged for that role in Los Angeles in 1998. As a concert artist, she appeared with leading British and European orchs.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire