Kathleen Mary Ferrier, CBE was an English contralto singer. She achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist. Her death from cancer, at the height of her fame, was a shock to the musical world.
About Kathleen Ferrier in brief
Kathleen Mary Ferrier, CBE was an English contralto singer. She achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist. Her death from cancer, at the height of her fame, was a shock to the musical world. The daughter of a Lancashire village schoolmaster, Ferrier showed early talent as a pianist. She won numerous amateur piano competitions while working as a telephonist with the General Post Office. She did not take up singing seriously until 1937, when after winning a prestigious singing competition at the Carlisle Festival she began to receive offers of professional engagements as a vocalist. In 1946 she made her stage debut, in the Glyndebourne Festival premiere of Benjamin Britten’s opera The Rape of Lucretia. She became known internationally through her three tours to the United States between 1948 and 1950 and her many visits to continental Europe. Ferrier was diagnosed with breast cancer in March 1951. In between periods of hospitalisation and convalescence she continued to perform and record; her final public appearance was as Orfeo, atthe Royal Opera House in February 1953, eight months before her death. Among her many memorials, the Kathleen Ferrier Cancer Research Fund was launched in May 1954. The KathleenFerrier Scholarship Fund, administered by the Royal Philharmonic Society, has since 1956 made annual awards to aspiring young professional singers. The Ferrier family originally came from Pembrokeshire in South West Wales.
When she was two the family moved to Blackburn, after William was appointed headmaster of St Paul’s School in the town. Although untrained musically, William was an enthusiastic member of the local operatic society and of several choirs, and his wife Alice was a competent singer with a strong contral to voice. By her own choice, Kathleen was the third and youngest of the couple’s children, following a sister and a brother; when she was 19, she became a fully fledged telephoner. Around this time she completed her training and passed her Licentiate examinations at the Royal Music Academy of Music. She continued in singing until her death in 1953. She was the only member of her family to survive the Second World War, when she died in a car crash. She is survived by her husband, William, and their three children, all of whom are now in their 80s and 90s, and a son and daughter-in-law, both of whom have died in recent years. She leaves behind a husband and a daughter, Kathleen, a former radio presenter, and two step-grandchildren. She also leaves a son, David, who is now a director of the BBC and a director-general of the Royal College of Pupils and Choristers. She had a long-standing friendship with Sir John Barbirolli, the composer and conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, and was a mentor to many of the world’s leading conductors and conductors.
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This page is based on the article Kathleen Ferrier published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
