Pollak, Anna

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Pollak, Anna

Pollak, Anna , English mezzo-soprano of Austrian descent; b. Manchester, May 1, 1912. She studied in the Netherlands and in Manchester. Following appearances as an actress and singer in musical comedy and operetta, she studied voice with Joan Cross. In 1945 she made her operatic debut as Dorabella at the Sadler’s Wells Opera in London, where she was one of its leading artists until 1962. In 1952 she made her first appearance at the Glyndebourne Festival as Dorabella and at London’s Covent Garden as Cherubino. Between 1962 and her retirement in 1968 she was a guest artist at the Sadler’s Wells Opera. In 1962 she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. She created the role of Bianca in Britten’s The Rape ofLucretia (1946) and the title role in Berkeley’s Ruth (1956).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire