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Wendy Eathorne JP FTCL ARAM LRAM ARCM
FRSA FCSM Hons Voice
Wendy Eathorne was born in the
tin mining village of Four Lanes near Redruth in
Cornwall. She was educated at Helston Grammar
School and still maintains strong links with the
Duchy, being a Cornish Bard, as well as
President of her home village Four Lanes Male
Voice Choir and a former Trustee of The Hall for
Cornwall in Truro.
Immediately after studying at
The Royal Academy of Music in London, where her
teachers included May Blyth, Flora Nielsen,
Bruce Boyce, Gwen Catley and Dame Eva Turner,
she went into the West End Musical Robert
and Elizabeth by Ron Grainer. She was a
prize winner in the International Vocalist
Concours in Holland in 1975 and also won the
Gulbenkian Foundation Award in 1976. She then
sang at Glyndebourne Festival Opera as Atalanta
in Nicholas Maw’s The Rising of the Moon, First
Boy in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, and
Sophie in Massenet’s Werther. Later for
English National Opera she sang Oscar in Verdi’s
The Masked Ball, Papagena in Mozart’s The
Magic Flute, The Princess in Prokofiev’s
Love for Three Oranges, Zerlina in
Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Cupid in
Handel’s Semele, and Daniel in Handel’s
Susanah. For the Handel Opera Society she
sang roles in Jeptha, Ottone and Atalanta.
She became one of the busiest
sopranos on the books of the agents Ibbs &
Tillett, singing throughout Europe, the Middle
East and Canada in contemporary works and first
performances by such composers as Tjeknavorian,
Berkeley and McCabe as well as the great
oratorios by J.S.Bach and Handel. She made many
studio and live concert broadcasts, including
First and Last Nights at the Promenade Concerts.
Wendy has performed under the direction of such
notable conductors as Abbado, Henze, Rattle,
Boulez, Haitink, Davis, Horenstein, Boult,
Leinsdorf, Pritchard, Norrington, Hickox,
Willcocks, Steinitz, Meredith Davies and
Gardner. She made numerous television
appearances including episodes of Face the
Music and Star Brass. Her
performances for the Huddersfield Choral
Society, London Bach Society, The Bach Choir,
Royal Choral Society, LSO, RPO, LPO, BBCSO,
Halle, CBSO, BSO and ECO are remembered with
affection.
Overseas engagements have
included France, Germany, Belgium, Iceland,
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Spain,
Portugal, South Africa, Egypt, South East Asia
and Canada.
From 1989-1994 she was Head of
Vocal Studies, Opera and Music Theatre at
Trinity College of Music, London (now Trinity
Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance),
devising and administering the course there.
Since 1985 she has been on the teaching staff of
the College where in 1998 she was made a Fellow.
She specialises in voice and drama. In 1994 she
was awarded the Sir Charles Santley Memorial
Prize by the Worshipful Company Musicians. She
is a member of the Royal Society of Musicians
and an Honorary Fellow of the Cambridge Society
of Musicians. In 2014 Wendy founded and directed
Stars of Trinity Laban to promote
advanced students by giving them public
performances in pretigious venues.
Interests beyond music include
dressmaking, cooking, swimming and gardening.
She also enjoys films, the theatre and
entertaining friends at home. From 1988 until
2009 she was a Justice of the Peace.
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