Annon Lee Silver

Silver, Annon Lee

Annon Lee Silver. Lyric soprano, b Glace Bay, NS, 18 Nov 1938, d London 28 Jul 1971; BA (Mount Allison) 1957, B MUS (Mount Allison) 1958. After graduation from Mount Allison and ca 1963 from the RCM she continued voice study in London with Maggie Teyte, in Switzerland with Frederick Husler, and in Italy with Giorgio Favaretto. She received many awards, including the first Dame Maggie Teyte Prize and a top vocal award in the JMC Centennial Competition in 1967 resulting in a CBC recording. Her operatic debut in 1963 was with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera as Amor in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea, a production later recorded. More study in 1964 in Switzerland was followed by another Glyndebourne engagement and several in Europe and Canada. She appeared with the MSO at Expo 67. In 1969 she was Sophie in Michael Redgrave's production of Werther at Glyndebourne, and in 1970 she created the role of Miss Atalanta Lillywhite in Nicholas Maw's The Rising of the Moon and sang Pamina in the touring company's The Magic Flute. Other important operatic roles included Blondchen in The Abduction from the Seraglio at the Bath Festival, Norina in Don Pasquale with the Phoenix Opera, Gilda in Rigoletto with the Welsh National Opera, Marzelline in Fidelio at the Grand Théâtre, Geneva, and several (Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, Gretel in Hansel and Gretel) during two years with the Frankfurt Opera. For BBC TV she gave master classes with Carl Ebert and Gerald Moore and sang Mozart arias with the Amadeus String Quartet. She gave many recitals with her pianist-husband Ronald Lumsden. Critics praised her 'excellence in all styles and techniques of singing' and her 'sure sense of character.' On her tragic death at 32 a tribute in The Times (2 Aug 1971) remembered 'her voice of unmistakable, individual quality and... her particular vivacious charm and endearing personality.'