Lillian Watson

Lillian Watson (born 4 December 1947 in London) is a soprano whose international career on the concert stage and in the opera house took her to theatres and venues around the UK and throughout Europe; she also made a number of recordings of parts of her repertoire and appeared on film. and was spotted by the conductor Raymond Leppard when he came to coach singers in a student production of The Coronation of Poppaea, asking her to join some recordings of Monteverdi madrigals where she sang alongside Heather Harper, Luigi Alva and others.

In 1970 Watson made her formal operatic debut as Cis in Albert Herring at the Wexford Festival while still at the Opera Centre. After her first professional engagement in Wexford, in 1970 she joined Welsh National Opera as a junior principal and remained for four years. After her debut there as Papagena opposite Thomas Allen as Papageno,

She returned regularly to the Royal Opera; in her first 25 years there she made 179 appearances, progressing from roles such as Barbarina, Gianetta, Papagena and the Young Girl in Lulu to Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier (1989), The Cunning Little Vixen (1990 and 1993), the Italian Soprano in Capriccio (1991), Ismene in Mitridate, re di Ponto (as well as covering one performance as Aspasia) and Bella in The Midsummer Marriage (1996). She also sang the second act role of the cabmen's 'mascot' Milli-Fiakermilli in Strauss's Arabella at Covent Garden in 1981, 1986, 1990 and 1996.

Watson appeared for several seasons at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival in Sussex. From 1975 her roles were Despina, Barbarina, Susanna, Blonde, Tytania, Sophie, and Fire in L'enfant et les sortilèges, the last in 1996. Grove states that "she is ideally suited in voice and personality to Mozart's soubrette roles...". She appeared in the audio recording of the same production made in 1987. She was engaged at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris in 1989 as Strauss's Sophie.

Her Proms appearances include Arsena in Der Zigeunerbaron in 1981, the Poulenc Gloria in 1991, a late night Prom in 1995 of Vivaldi and Handel with the Gabrieli Consort, and Britten's Spring Symphony in 2001. In the concert hall and radio she has sung Mahler 4 under Edward Downes in Manchester, and appeared several times in popular programmes Melodies for You and Friday Night Is Music Night, and Bernstein's On the Town, as Miss Ivy Smith, at the Royal Festival Hall in 2000, conducted by Paul Daniel. She appeared as Elida in a rare revival of Spoliansky's 1932 satirical department store musical Send for Mr Plim at the BOC Covent Garden Festival in 2000.

On television she appeared in an abridged version of Rigoletto (1974) in English, André Previn's Christmas Music Night in 1977, Eurydice in Orpheus in the Underworld in 1983, and other televised operas.

With her interest in the dramatic side of opera, she stated that she prefers to have an extensive rehearsal time when everyone is working together, rather than the situation where big stars "come in and walk to the front and do their piece as we had in Ballo".

Discography Le nozze di Figaro (Barbarina), BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Chorus, Colin Davis (Philips 1970) Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Blonde), Mozartorchester des Opernhauses Zürich, Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Teldec 1985) Don Pasquale (Norina) Welsh Philharmonia, National Opera Chorale, Richard Armstrong (Screen Legends, HTV SL 2007 1988) Mitridate, re di Ponto, (Ismene) Royal Opera Chorus & The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Paul Daniel - Stage Directed by Graham Vick (Opus Arte 1993)