JEAN RIGBY
Jean Rigby, mezzo-soprano, studied at the Royal Birmingham School of Music and then at The Royal Academy of Music in London with Patricia Clarke, with whom she continues to work. With English National Opera she has sung Penelope in The Return of Ulysses, Jocasta, Carmen, Octavian, Lucretia and Rosina. Other appearances have included Nicklausse (The Tales of Hoffman) with the Royal Opera House and San Diego Opera and L'italiana in algeri at the Buxton Festival.
She is one of Britain's leading concert artists, singing with all of the major orchestras and conductors and is a frequent soloist at the BBC Promenade Concerts. Recordings include Elgar's The Music Makers with Andrew Davis, the title role in The Rape of Lucretia with Richard Hickox, and Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde conducted by Mark Wigglesworth. She made her Vienna debut in 1994 in Beethoven's Missa Solemnis conducted by Sir Neville Marriner.
Recent engagements have included Rosina (The Barber of Seville) and Helen of Troy in Tippett's King Priam , the title role in La Cenerentola for Garsington, concerts in Salzburg with Trevor Pinnock; and, at the Proms, Mahler 8 with Andrew Davis and Mahler 2 with Sir Charles Mackerras. Last season she sang Idamante for Garsington, returned to the Proms in Mendelssohn's Elijah, recorded the world premiere of a song cycle by Michael Berkeley with The Nash Ensemble, Britten's Canticles and Delius's Mass of Life with Richard Hickox; and sang Hypolyta (A Midsummer Night's Dream) and Maddalena (Rigoletto) for ENO.
1997 engagements included Charlotte (Werther) for Seattle Opera, Mahler 2 in Boston and London, concerts with Leonard Slatkin at the Istanbul Festival; L'Enfance du Christ in Hamburg with Norrington, and Irene (Theodora) for Glyndebourne Festival with whom she will also sing Genevieve (Pelleas and Melisande) in 1998/99.
