Heather Harper

Who is Heather Harper?

Heather Harper CBE is a Northern Ireland-born British operatic soprano.

She was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland in 1930, where she received her early musical training. She studied piano at the Trinity College of Music in London, with voice as a second subject, and sang with the BBC chorus.

Her professional debut came in 1954 in Macbeth at the Oxford University Opera Club. From 1956 to 1975, she was a member of the English Opera Group. She is noted for her performance of Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin, the title role in Strauss's Arabella, Ellen Orford in Britten's Peter Grimes, and the Governess in Britten's The Turn of the Screw. She appeared at Covent Garden, Bayreuth, San Francisco and the Metropolitan Opera. She also sang Charlotte in Massennet's Werther, for San Francisco Opera. She was a regular guest at the famous Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires where she sang many roles such as Margherite, Arabella, Antonia, Vitellia. Her farewell performance in Buenos Aires was as Ellen Orford in Britten's Peter Grimes.

Harper has also had an extensive concert career, including singing in the premiere of Britten's War Requiem in 1962, famously substituting for Galina Vishnevskaya on 10 days' notice.