Valerie Masterson
Margaret Valerie Masterson CBE (born 3 June 1937) is a retired English opera singer, a lecturer and Vice-President of British Youth Opera. After study in Italy, she began to sing opera in Europe. Returning to England, Masterson performed as principal soprano with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1964 to 1969, becoming popular with audiences and participating in several of the company's recordings, as well as those of Gilbert and Sullivan for All and the BBC.
She next joined English National Opera and went on to an international opera career lasting more than three decades. Although she performed a wide variety of roles, she was best known for her roles in the French repertoire and the works of Handel, as well as Gilbert and Sullivan. Her recordings include, in addition to many opera roles, operettas and musical theatre. She has been appointed a CBE and is a Fellow of the Royal College of Music.
Early career and D'Oyly Carte[edit]
Masterson was born in Birkenhead, Cheshire, and studied at the Matthay School of Music (Liverpool) and at the Royal College of Music.[1] She received good reviews for her student performances. The Times commented on her "welcome freshness", though on another occasion it found fault with her attempt at a Scottish accent in a Robert Burns evening at the Wigmore Hall, calling it "more of Kensington than Kilmarnock". Nevertheless, the paper judged her "good to listen to" and "intelligent".[2]
She studied for a year in Milan with the soprano Adelaide Saraceni, but her most important teacher was the London-based tenor Eduardo Asquez.[3] She made her debut as Frasquita in Bizet's Carmen in Salzburg with the Landestheatre Opera Company, where she spent a season in 1963 singing roles in Italian, French and German operas.[4] The following year, she returned to England, performing in concerts, including two Promenade Concerts with Sir Malcolm Sargent. She later recalled, "I remember Sir Malcolm Sargent plucking me out of the Royal College of Music to do some Proms as a student – can you imagine that happening nowadays? – and saying to me 'Your quiet singing will make your fortune'".[5] The music critics commended "a team of soloists led by a newcomer, Miss Valerie Masterson, with particularly pure and radiant soprano tone" in the Serenade to Music.[6][7]
Masterson joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as a principal soprano in 1964.[1] After a performance as Mabel in The Pirates of Penzance, The Guardian commented, "It is Valerie Masterson's Mabel that makes one revise ideas on D'Oyly Carte standards. It is a long time since the company had so strong a soprano lead." Other critics agreed: The Times criticised D'Oyly Carte vocal standards in 1968 but called Masterson and Kenneth Sandford "shining exceptions."[8] She remained with D'Oyly Carte for five years, where her major roles were Mabel; Josephine in H.M.S. Pinafore; Phyllis in Iolanthe; Lady Psyche, and subsequently the title role, in Princess Ida; Yum-Yum in The Mikado; Elsie Maynard in The Yeomen of the Guard; and Casilda in The Gondoliers. She appeared as Yum-Yum in the company's 1966 film version of The Mikado.[9] She left the company in 1969 but often returned for guest appearances.[1]
Honours and retirement[edit]
As Vice-President (and former president) of British Youth Opera, Masterson continues to work with young singers. In 1988, Masterson was made a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours. She was also made a Fellow of the Royal College of Music in 1992.[44]
Masterson continued to give master-classes and to lecture about singing and her career. She often spoke at the annual International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton, England, and performed Yum-Yum in The Mikado at that festival in 1997. She is a Patron of the Carl Rosa Opera Company.[45]
An avid sportswoman and cooking enthusiast, she is married to former D'Oyly Carte principal flautist Andrew March.[46]
Recordings[edit]
Among her recordings are a number of Gilbert and Sullivan operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, including H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, The Mikado, The Sorcerer, and a series of Gilbert and Sullivan videos with the company Gilbert and Sullivan for All.[47] On BBC television, Masterson appeared as Yum-Yum in 1973 and Elsie Maynard in 1975.[47] In 1983, she recorded an album of G&S solos and duets with Robert Tear.[48] She sang Josephine, Mabel, Ida, Yum-Yum and Elsie in the 1989 BBC2 series of the complete Gilbert and Sullivan operas.[47] In 1997 she recorded excerpts from Ivanhoe, The Chieftain, The Beauty Stone and The Emerald Isle with the National Symphony Orchestra for the CD "Sullivan & Co. – The Operas that Got Away"[49] Her voice is heard in the Gilbert and Sullivan songs in the film The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.[50]
Masterson stars as Violetta on a recording in English of La traviata conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras.[51] Also with Mackerras, she recorded the role of Cleopatra in Julius Caesar opposite Janet Baker's Caesar,[52] and Romilda in audio and DVD recordings of Nicholas Hytner's ENO production of Serse (given in English as Xerxes).[53] In July 1975, Masterson sang Matilde in a complete recording of Elisabetta, regina d'Inghilterra alongside Montserrat Caballé and José Carreras.[53] She is also featured in live recordings of Faust (in Philadelphia), Mireille, Scipio, Chérubin,[1] and the ENO Ring cycle, conducted by Reginald Goodall.[54] The 1980 television broadcast from Glyndebourne of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, with Masterson as Constanze, has been issued on DVD. She appeared in the 1985 Tony Palmer film about Handel God Rot Tunbridge Wells!, with Anthony Rolfe Johnson singing 'Oh happy we' from Acis and Galatea.[55]
A recital disc of her French repertoire, Valerie Masterson – en Français: Airs d’Opéra, was released in 1989.[56] She recorded highlights from Messiah.[1] Apart from Sullivan, her recordings of English music include Elgar's music for The Starlight Express,[57] songs by Thomas Arne and Henry Bishop in a mixed recital disc of 1992,[58] and a disc of English songs with Sarah Walker.[51] Her recordings of lighter works include The King and I,[59] Kismet,[1] Bitter Sweet,[60] Song of Norway,[61] On the Town,[44] and The Merry Widow,[60] and a disc of show duets with Thomas Allen.[62] Concert works recorded by Masterson include Mozart's "Great Mass".[63]