Gwyneth Jones

Gwyneth Jones as Venus

Gwyneth Jones as Venus in Götz Friedrich's production of Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival.

Dame Gwyneth Jones was born in Pontnewynydd, Wales, Great Britain. After studies at the Royal College of Music, London-, The Accademia Chigiana Siena, the International Opera Studio in Zurich and with Maria Carpi in Geneva, she made her debut at the Zurich Opera House in 1962. She has been singing at the Royal Opera Covent Garden since 1963 and is member of the Vienna State Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and the Deutsche Oper Berlin since 1966. She is one of the most successful and versatile opera singers in the world.

In Vienna, Munich, London, Paris and at the MET in New York, she has triumphed in operas by Richard Strauss. Salome, Helen of Egypt (both recorded), Ariadne, the Dyer's Wife and the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier (on CD Video conducted by Carlos Kleiber) are among her best roles. Since adding Elektra to her repertoire in 1983, she has been sensationally successful wherever she has performed it.

At the Bayreuth Festival she has proved to be an outstanding interpreter of the characters of Richard Wagner: She sang Sieglinde, Eva, Senta and Kundry (both recorded there). She was the first singer ever to sing both Elisabeth and Venus (Tannhäuser) at the Festspielhaus (available on video). In 1976 she was Brünnhilde in the successfully filmed new production of the Ring des Nibelungen (Boulez/Chéreau) for the centenary celebration of the festival. The gramophone recording received the Grammy award. In 1980 she became a brilliant Isolde, and in 1991 added Ortrud.

In the theatre of the original production (Theater an der Wien), she sang Beethoven's Fidelio for the celebration of the 200th birthday of Beethoven in a new production with Leonard Bernstein. She has filmed Leonore with Karl Böhm, with whom she also recorded it. She also sang the original Leonore in Vienna.

In her Italian roles, she has been successful at La Scala di Milano with Leonore. In Rome and the Arena of Verona with Aida, at the Maggio Musicale Firenze as Lady Macbeth. She has recorded Desdemona (Otello) and Medea (Cherubini). She is a fascinating Tosca and a superb Butterfly. Her Turandot, which she studied with the legendary Dame Eva Turner, proved to be one of the greatest successes of her career at the Olympic Arts Festival in Los Angeles 1984, and thereafter in London and everywhere. She added La Fanciulla del West to her repertoire in 1991, with Placido Domingo.

In 1989 she sang her first La Voix humaine (Poulenc) and in 1990 Erwartung (Schönberg). and later Kostelnicka in Jenufa, Kabanicha, Katia Kabanowa (Janacek), Bellini's Norma, Herodias and Klythemnestra.

She has sung in all the important opera houses throughout the world: Vienna State Opera, London Royal Opera Covent Garten, at the MET, in Paris, La Scala di Milano, in Berlin, Munich, Hamburg, Barcelona, Buenos Aires, Tokyo, San Francisco, Chicago and at the Festivals in Bayreuth, Salzburg, Verona, Edinburgh, Orange, etc.

She has worked with great conductors like Abbado, Barbirolli, Bernstein, Böhm, Boulez, Davis, Giulini, Gergiev, Haitink, Kempe, Kleiber, Krips, Kubelik, Leinsdorf, Levine, Maazel, Mehta, Muti, Ozawa, Sawallisch, Solti, Thielemann, von Dohnanyi and with producers such as Chéreau, Everding, Friedrich, Hartmann, Kupfer, Ponnelle, Rennert, Ronconi, Schenk, Serban, Visconti, W. Wagner, Zefirelli a.o.

In films and for TV, she has performed Isolde, Aida, Turandot, Senta, Marschallin, Fidelio, Venus, Elisabeth, Brünnhilde, the Dyer's Wife, Poppea, The Merry Widow, La Voix humaine, Erwartung and Anne Langley in Dustin Hoffman’s “Quartet”. She sings recitals and orchestral concerts in the famous concert-halls Carnegie Hall, Concertgebow, Musikverein, Royal Festival Hall, Royal Albert Hall, Thèatre des Champs Elysee, Suntory Hall, etc.) and is often the star of TV shows. She has recorded for Deutsche Grammophon, Philips, EMI, Decca, CBS, Sony, Capriccio, Chandos and Koch International.

The University of Wales and the University of Glamorgan gave her the title of Dr. h.c. in Musica; Austria and Bavaria the Title"Kammersängerin". In 1971 she was made a Fellow of The Royal College of Music. Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth 11 appointed her Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1986. In 1987 she was awarded the Shakespeare-Prize in Hamburg; in 1988 the "Verdienstkreuz 1. Klasse" of the Federal Republic of Germany, and became in 1989 Honorary Member of the Vienna State Opera. In 1990, she became President of the Richard Wagner Society, London, and in 1991 received the Golden Medal of Honor in Vienna. In 1992 she became Commandeur des Arts et lettres in France and a Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music.

She has given Masterclasses in Great Britain, Germany, France, Netherlands and Switzerland. In 2003 she was awarded the Premio Puccini Prize in Torre del Lago and made her Debut as Stage Director, with a New Production of Der Fliegende Holländer in the Deutsches National Theater, Weimar, (where she was also responsible for the Costumes, together with her Stage Designer Laurent Berger).

Gwyneth Jones at the Bayreuth Festival

1966

Die Walküre (Sieglinde)

1968

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Eva)

1969

Der fliegende Holländer (Senta)
Parsifal (Kundry)

1970

Der fliegende Holländer (Senta)
Die Walküre (Sieglinde)
Parsifal (Kundry)

1971

Der fliegende Holländer (Senta)
Die Walküre (Sieglinde)

1972

Tannhäuser (Venus + Elisabeth) - available on DVD
Die Walküre (Sieglinde)

1973

Tannhäuser (Venus + Elisabeth)
Die Walküre (Sieglinde)