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Artist
Dame Janet Baker
12+ albums
mezzo-sopranooperafemale vocalistsClassicaljanet baker
about
Dame Janet Baker (born August 21, 1933) is an English mezzo-soprano best known as an opera, concert, and lieder singer. She was particularly closely associated with baroque and early Italian opera and the works of Benjamin Britten. During her career, which spanned from the 1950s to the 1980s, she was considered an outstanding singing actress and widely admired for her dramatic intensity, perhaps best represented in her famous portrayal as Dido, the tragic heroine of Hector Berlioz's magnum opus 'Les Troyens'. As a concert performer, Baker was noted for her interpretations of Gustav Mahler and Edgar Elgar. Early life: Janet Baker was born in Hatfield, South Yorkshire. Her father was an engineer who sang in a male voice choir. Her brother Peter died when she was ten. She attended York College for Girls and then Wintringham Girls' Grammar School in Grimsby. In her early years she worked in a bank, transferring to London in 1953 where she trained with Meriel St Clair and Helene Isepp. Debut: In 1956, she made her stage debut with the Oxford University Opera Club as Miss Róza in Smetana's The Secret. That year, she also made her debut at Glyndebourne. In 1959, she sang Eduige in the Handel Opera Society's Rodelinda; other Handel roles included Ariodante (1964), of which she later made an outstanding recording with Raymond Leppard, and Orlando (1966), which she sang at the Barber Institute, Birmingham. Opera: With the English Opera Group at Aldeburgh, Baker sang Purcell's Dido a
top songs
1
Ave Maria
2852Pergolesi: Ogni pena più spietata
1653Purcell: Dido and Aeneas / Act 3 - "But Death alas!".."When I am laid in earth"
1634Schubert: Ave Maria, D. 839, "Ellens Gesang III": "Ave Maria, Jungfrau mild!" (Sehr langsam)
1235Linden Lea - A Dorset song
1006SCHUBERT: AVE MARIA (Ellens Gesang III)
897Ich bin der Welt abhanden gekommen
718Così fan tutte, K. 588, Act 2: "E amore un ladroncello"
659Ave Maria (Ellens Gesang III) D839
6110Boom De De Boom
60albums
Dame Janet Baker: Philips And Decca Recordings 1961-1979
Icon: Dame Janet Baker
Bach/Purcell/Rameau/Cavalli/Ravel/Chausson - Janet Baker
The Great EMI Recordings - French Mélodies: Berlioz, Ravel, Chausson, Duparc, Fauré, Debussy
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Purcell: Dido and Aeneas
The Very Best Of Janet Baker
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101 Classical Hits
Plaisir d'amour - A Celebration of the Art of Dame Janet Baker
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Baroque Adagios
The Legendary Dame Janet Baker
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Schubert: String Quintet in C . Ave Maria and other popular songs
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Schubert: Lieder