Adieu to a Comedienne

Opera singer Heather Begg, a mezzo-soprano who last month was made a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, has died in New South Wales, aged 76. Begg was the first person to have her honour redesignated by the Queen of England since New Zealand moved this year to reinstate knighthoods and damehoods. Born in Nelson in 1932, Begg won the 1955 Sydney Sun Aria contest before moving to London to study at the National School of Opera. British critic Hugh Canning called her the “mistress of comedy” for her roles in operas such as La Fille du Regiment, Patience, Fra Diavolo and Le Nozze di Figaro. She also shone in passionate dramatic roles such as Carmen and Princess Marina Mnishek in Boris Godunov. For a decade Begg was the principal resident mezzo-soprano at Covent Garden. She made a final cameo  appearance on the stage in 2006, playing the part of the Grandmother in Janacek’s Jenufa. Former singer and  chorusmaster, James Christiansen, whose wife, the soprano Marilyn Richardson sang with Begg in the 1986 production of the opera Voss, says Begg was a “wonderfully funny woman with a creamy rich voice”.

Heather Begg: 1 December 1932 – 12 May 2009