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Gillian Knight (born 1 November 1934) is an English singer and actress, known for her performances in the contralto roles of the Savoy operas. After six years starring in these roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, beginning in 1959, Knight began a grand opera career. Knight joined Sadler's Wells Opera (now known as English National Opera) in 1968 and, in 1970, went on to the Royal Opera, where she performed numerous roles over a period of more than three decades. Knight has also performed with many other opera companies in Britain, Europe and America and at houses internationally and has recorded many of her Gilbert and Sullivan and grand opera roles. ==Beginnings and D'Oyly Carte years== Knight was born in Redditch, Worcestershire, England, and educated in Birmingham. She won a five-year scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music, where she studied with May Blythe and Roy Henderson.〔Sleeve notes to "Gilbert and Sullivan Hits for All", Enterprise Records, ENTB 1032〕 She sang in concerts, oratorio and on television with the Linden Singers while still at the Academy.〔(Gillian Knight profile ) at the Memories of the D'Oyly Carte website, accessed 5 May 2009〕 Knight joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1959, going on tour immediately in eight of the leading contralto roles in the Gilbert and Sullivan repertory. In September of that year, at the age of 25, she succeeded Ann Drummond-Grant as the company's principal contralto on Drummond-Grant's death.〔Rollins and Witts, pp. 183–84〕 ''The Times'' wrote, "Many good Savoyards have regretted Gilbert's unkind lampooning of the unattractive elderly female, stouter than she used to be, with a caricature of a face and so on; and we have observed with gratitude that Buttercup, Ruth, Lady Jane and their equivalents are acted this season by a pleasing and personable young lady.... Miss Gillian Knight's Buttercup is in itself an iconoclastic impersonation."〔''The Times'', 5 January 1962, p. 4〕 Before even beginning to tour with the company, her first performance with the company was to play the role of Little Buttercup in the company's recording of ''H.M.S. Pinafore'' released in 1960,〔〔 the first Gilbert and Sullivan recording to include complete dialogue.〔Shepherd, Marc. ("The 1960 D'Oyly ''Pinafore''", ) ''A Gilbert and Sullivan Discography'', accessed 5 May 2009〕 Knight spent almost six years with the D'Oyly Carte, appearing in the roles of Little Buttercup, Ruth in ''The Pirates of Penzance'', Lady Jane in ''Patience'', the Fairy Queen in ''Iolanthe'', Lady Blanche in ''Princess Ida'', Katisha in ''The Mikado'', Dame Hannah in ''Ruddigore'', Dame Carruthers in ''The Yeomen of the Guard'', and the Duchess of Plaza-Toro in ''The Gondoliers''.〔Rollins and Witts, pp. 183–86 and ''The Gilbert and Sullivan Journal'', May 1965, p. 290〕 Knight married D'Oyly Carte master carpenter Trevor Morrison in 1960. She left the D'Oyly Carte company in 1965, and soon afterwards, the couple's daughter, Rebecca, was born.〔Stone, David. (Gillian Knight ) at the ''Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company'' website, 27 January 2002, accessed 5 May 2009〕 Rebecca Knight later became an opera singer.〔''The Independent'', 23 May 2002, p. 7〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Gillian Knight」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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