ELISABETH SCHWARZKOPF (Jarocin, Poznań, 9.12.1915 – Schruns, 03.08.2006)

Elisabeth Schwarzkopf studied music, first as a contralto at the Berlin Hochschule, where she was a pupil of L. Mysz-Gmeiner in the field of singing, and also took courses in harmony and counterpoint, piano and viola. In the spring of 1938 she made her debut at the Berlin Opera, where she sang in Parsifal (as the flower girl). After playing minor roles for a while, she performed her first demanding roles as an agile soprano. In 1942 she performed in a Lieder concert in Vienna with such success that she was immortalised at the Staatsoper. In 1947 she toured England with the Vienna Staatsoper company: her success in Don Giovanni, opposite Seefried and Jurinac, earned her a series of engagements at Covent Garden, where she remained until 1951. In 1948 she made her debut in Italy, singing Mozart’s Requiem at the Sagra Musicale Umbra; a few months later she appeared at La Scala as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, conducted by Herbert von Karajan. In September 1951, she took part in the first performance of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress at the Venice Festival. At the same time, she performed at the opera houses of La Scala and the Vienna Staatsoper, then sang in the United States, where she made her debut in 1955. In 1962 she made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera. In 1950 she was awarded the Lilli Lehmann Medal and in 1955 she received the 1st Orfeo d’oro, which was presented to her personally by Arturo Toscanini. Over the years she devoted herself more and more intensively to chamber music, gradually abandoning opera and bidding farewell in 1971 at a gala evening at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. In 1984 she won the ‘Diapason d’Or’ record prize. In 1992 she was appointed ‘Dame Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire’. She died in Schruns in 2006.

GEOFFREY PARSONS (Sydney, 15.6.1929 – London, 26.1.1995)

Geoffrey Parsons studied at the Sydney Conservatory with Winifred Burston (1941-1948), and continued his studies in Munich with Friedrich Wührer (1956). After a highly acclaimed debut in Sydney in 1946 as a pianist playing Mozart, he moved to Britain in 1950 and has since become one of the most internationally recognised accompanists in this field. He has worked with singers such as P. Dawson, G. Hüsch, E. Schwarzkopf, V de Los Angeles, R. Streich, N. Gedda, H. Hotter, Janet Baker and with instrumentalists such as Paul Tortelier and Nathan Milstein. In 1977 he was appointed ‘Commander of the Order of the British Empire’. He died in London in 1995.