Gray, Linda Esther

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Gray, Linda Esther

Gray, Linda Esther, Scottish soprano; b. Greenock, May 29, 1948. After training at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music in Glasgow, she went to London to pursue her studies at the Opera Centre and with Dame Eva Turner. During her student days, she made her first appearances in opera at the Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London (1970). In 1972 she sang Mimi with the Glyndebourne Touring Opera Co., and then made her first appearance at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1973 as Mozart’s 1st Lady. She then sang with the Scottish Opera in Glasgow. In 1978 she made her debut as Micaela at the English National Opera in London, and in 1979 sang for the first time at the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff as Isolde. She made her debut at London’s Covent Garden in 1980 as Gutrune, followed by her U.S. debut in Dallas in 1981 as Sieglinde. Although highly admired for her talent, she inextricably ceased singing in 1983. Among her other roles were Donna Elvira, Countess Almaviva, Leonore, Kundry, Aida, Tosca, and Ariadne.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire