April Cantelo

April Cantelo (born 2 April 1928) is an English soprano.

She was born Rosemary April Cantelo in Purbrook, Hampshire. She attended Chelmsford County High School for Girls. She studied in London under Vilém Tauský, Joan Cross, Imogen Holst and others. She sang in the Glyndebourne Chorus and then made her debut in Edinburgh in 1950 as Barbarina and Echo. In the first half of the 1950s she sang Barbarina, Countess Ceprano and Poussette at Covent Garden.

Cantelo sang in the British premieres of Hans Werner Henze's Boulevard Solitude (Manon Lescaut) and Kurt Weill's Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Jenny). She appeared in the world premiere of Malcolm Williamson's English Eccentrics. Among the roles she created are:

April Cantelo made several appearances at the Henry Wood Proms between 1958 and 1973, singing in Carmina Burana, Vaughan Williams Pastoral Symphony, Berlioz Les nuits d'été, (under Basil Cameron), Malcolm Williamson's Our Man in Havana (vocal suite), Purcell's The Indian Queen, Cavalli's Messa concertata, excerpts from Monteverdi operas, Purcell odes and Haydn's Mass in D minor 'Nelsonmesse'.

Cantelo took part in the inaugural concert of the Purcell Room in London on 3 March 1967 ('Homage to Henry Purcell') with Robert Tear, Raymond Leppard and Bernard Richards.

She directed a production of Henry Purcell's The Fairy-Queen in New Zealand in 1972.

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