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The Australian soprano, Yvonne (Denise) Kenny, received her training at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music in Sydney and at the La Scala Opera School in Milan (1973-1974).
Yvonne Kenny made her 1975 operatic debut in London in Donizetti's Rosmonda d'Inghilterra. After winning the Kathleen Ferrier Competition the same year, she joined the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where her roles have included Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Ilia (Idomeneo), Oscar (Un Ballo in Maschera), Susanna (Le Nozze di Figaro), Adina (L'Elisir d'Amore), Aspasia (Mitridate) and Donna Anna (Don Giovanni). She has received international acclaim in many George Frideric Handel roles, notably Semele and Alcina (Covent Garden and La Fenice in Venice); Romilda (Xerxes) for English National Opera and Munich's Bavarian State Opera; also Cleopatra (Giulio Cesare) in Sydney. The artist has sung at the Vienna State Opera, Milan's La Scala, Berlin State Opera, Opéra de Paris, Hamburg State Opera, Zurich Opera, Washington Opera and returns frequently to Opera Australia for numerous and varied assignments.
Yvonne Kenny appears regularly in concert throughout Europe and North America and has appeared at the Edinburgh, Salzburg and Aix-en-Provence Festivals, at Carnegie Hall and is a regular guest at the BBC Promenade concerts.
Yvonne Kenny's extensive discography includes works by W.A. Mozart (Le Nozze di Figaro, Entführung, Mitridate, Lucio Silla), Edward Elgar (The Kingdom), Igor Stravinsky (Pulcinella), Benjamin Britten (Gloriana, The Beggar's Opera), G.F. Handel (Deborah) and Strauss (Der Rosenkavalier), as well as solo recordings of G.F. Handel arias and French mélodies.
Notable among her most recent engagements (late 1990's) are Rosenkavalier in London and Minneapolis, Alcina for the Opéra de Nancy, in addition to L'Incoronazione di Poppea, Falstaff, Rinaldo, Giulio Cesare and Capriccio at Opera Australia. She was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1989 and last year was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Sydney. |
