Fisher, Sylvia (Gwendoline Victoria)
Fisher, Sylvia (Gwendoline Victoria)
Fisher, Sylvia (Gwendoline Victoria), admired Australian soprano; b. Melbourne, April 18, 1910. She was a student of Adolf Spivakovsky at the Mel-bourne Cons. In 1932 she made her operatic debut as Hermione in Lully’s Cadmus et Hermione in Melbourne. After settling in London, she made her first appearance at Covent Garden as Beethoven’s Leonore in 1949; subsequently she was a leading dramatic soprano there until 1958, excelling particularly as Sieglinde, the Marschallin, and Kostelnička in Jenůfa. In 1958 she sang at the Chicago Lyric Opera. She was a member of the English Opera Group in London (1963–71), and also sang there with the Sadler’s Wells (later the English National) Opera. She created the role of Miss Wingrave in Britten’s Owen Wingrave (BBC-TV, London, May 16, 1971), and was notably successful as Elizabeth I in his Gloriana.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire