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Born: June 7, 1940 - Morecambe, Lancashire, England
Died: April 16, 1992 - Morecambe, Lancashire, England |
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The English contralto, Alfreda (Rose) Hodgson, received her musical training at the Northern School of Music in Manchester, GNSM; Honorary Fellow 1972; LRAM.
Alfreda Hodgson made her concert debut with Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra in 1964 (according to Baker's) or 1961 (according to Who's Who), and her first appearance in London in 1963. In subsequent years, she appeared as a soloist with all the principal British orchestras. She appeared with the Philharmonia Orchestra under Otto Klemperer, Carlo Maria Giulini, Lorin Maazel, Haitink, Seiji Ozawa, Andrew Davis, Fruhbeck de Burgos, Mata and Simon Rattle; London Symphony Orchestra under Claudio Abbado, Svetlanov, Rozhdestvensky and Colin Davis. She had frequent overseas engagements, including the first Messiah in Israel, conducted by Zubin Mehta; USA appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, in Cleveland with Lorin Maazel, in Toronto with A. Davis and at Meadowbrook with Gunther Herbig and the Detroit Symphony.
Alfreda Hodgson's concert repertoire ranged from Bach to Britten. Her Mahler repertoire included the 2nd Symphony (Resurrection) on London debut, with Otto Klemperer and the Philharmonia Orchestra; 8th Symphony with the London Symphony Orchestra under Colin Davis at the Albert Hall, at the Edinburgh Festival and at the opening of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, 1990; Des Knaben Wunderhorn with Simon Rattle; Das Lied von der Erde with James Conlon and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hallé Orchestra under Skrowaczewski; 3rd Symphony with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. 1990. Other concert repertoire included Beethoven's Ninth in Dresden and at the Festival Hall; Elgar's Dream of Gerontius in Toronto and The Kingdom with the London Philharmonic; L'enfance du Christ in Lisbon; Schoenberg's Gurrelieder, Elijah with the Scottish National Orchestra and the Missa Solemnis with the Hallé.
Alfreda Hodgson made her operatic debut as Ulrica with the English National Opera in 1974, and appreaed at Covent Garden in 1983 and 1987 in Peter Grimes and the Ravel/Stravinsky double bill. She sang Sosostris with Eenglish National Opera in 1985 (Midsummer Marriage) and appeared in concert performances of Gluck' s Orfeo with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and in Beatrice et Benedict at the Festival Hall.
Recordings include: St John Passion (BWV 245) conducted by Benjamin Britten (Decca); The Dream of Gerontius and Das Lied von der Erde conducted by Alexander Gibson; Händel's Jephtha and Messiah; Brahms Alto Rhapsody under Haitink (Orfeo); Das Klagende Lied under Simon Rattle (EMI); Mozart Requiem (Virgin Classics); Britten's Spring Symphony and The Apostles by Elgar with the London Symphony Orchestra (Chandos)
Alfreda Hodgson was married with Paul Blissett and had 2 daughters. |
