Turner, Dame Eva
Turner, Dame Eva
Turner, Dame Eva, distinguished English soprano; b. Oldham, March 10, 1892; d. London, June 16, 1990. She was a pupil of Dan Roothan in Bristol; Giglia Levy, Edgardo Levy, and Mary Wilson at the Royal Academy of Music in London; and Albert Richards Broad. In 1916 she made her operatic debut as a Page in Tannhäuserwith the Carl Rosa Opera Co., with which she sang until 1924; sang with the company at London’s Co vent Garden in 1920. In 1924 she made her first appearance at Milan’s La Scala as Freia in Das Rheingold;then toured Germany with an Italian opera company in 1925. She sang Turandot in Brescia in 1926; appeared at Covent Garden (1928-30; 1933; 1935-39; 1947-48); was a guest artist in other European music centers, in Chicago, and in South America. She taught at the Univ. of Okla. (1950-59) and then at the Royal Academy of Music. In 1962 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Her other esteemed roles included Agatha, Amelia, Santuzza, Aida, Isolde, Sieglinde, and Cio-Cio-San.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire