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Jill Gomez

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The Right Honourable
Jill Gomez
The Countess of Northesk
Colour, three-quarters profile, studio publicity headshot of a half-smiling young woman in stage makeup and costume.
Gomez in the 1970s
Born
Barbara Jill Gomez

(1942-09-21)21 September 1942
New Amsterdam, British Guiana
Died11 August 2026(2026-08-11) (aged 83)
United Kingdom
Education
OccupationOperatic soprano
SpousePatrick Carnegy, 15th Earl of Northesk

Jill Carnegy, Countess of Northesk (née Gomez; 21 September 1942 – 11 August 2026) was a Trinidadian and British soprano.

Trained in London in voice and piano from the age of 13, she began her career in 1968 with the Glyndebourne Festival as Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, followed by Debussy's Mélisande and Cavalli's La Calisto over the next two years. She created the roles of Flora in Tippett's The Knot Garden at the Royal Opera House in London in 1970 and of the Countess in Thea Musgrave's The Voice of Ariadne at the 1973 Aldeburgh Festival. She appeared in lyric roles at several opera houses in the UK and Europe, including a production of Mozart's Lucio Silla at the Zürich Opera directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle and conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Her 1995 creation of the lead role of the Duchess of Argyll in Powder Her Face by Thomas Adès was particularly acclaimed and its original-cast recording was nominated for a Grammy Award.

Besides opera, she recorded as a soloist in choral-symphonic works, such as Mahler's Symphony No. 2 with the Israel Philharmonic conducted by Georg Solti, sang cantatas by Thomas Arne with Jaap Schröder, performed song cycles with chamber ensemble by Ravel and Webern conducted by Pierre Boulez, and recorded Spanish and French songs such as Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne. An obituary in The Telegraph noted that she was "blessed with a sensuously beautiful and creamy voice".[1]

Life and career

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Gomez was born on 21 September 1942 in New Amsterdam, British Guiana (now Guyana),[1][2] to Albert Clyde Gomez, a Spanish Trinidadian, and Denise Price Gomez (née Denham). She grew up with a younger sister, Wendy,[1] in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago. Her father became managing director and vice-chairman of Angostura, the famous distillers, and her British mother was a well-known actress and broadcaster in Trinidad.[1][3]

Education

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After studying at St. Joseph's Convent in Port of Spain, Trinidad,[1][3] and dominating at the islands' biennial Music Festival, Gomez moved to England at age 13 to study voice and piano at London's Royal Academy of Music and later the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where her most important teacher was Walther Gruner.[3] She said that he "knew more about lieder singing than anyone else";[1] he brought her to the Bayreuth Youth Festival.[1] She successfully auditioned for the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus and performed with it from 1966 to 1968, winning the John Christie Award both latter years.[1]

Opera

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Gomez began her career at Glyndebourne in 1968 in her solo operatic debut as Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore with the Touring Opera. A reviewer from Opera magazine noted her "ease on the stage, possessing a sweet, well-produced (and well-trained) voice".[1] It was followed the next year by Mélisande in Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande on the main stage, alternating with Ileana Cotrubas,[1] and in 1970 by the title role of Francesco Cavalli's La Calisto, conducted by Raymond Leppard.[4] She appeared as Aminta in Mozart's Il re pastore at the Ledlanet Nights of Opera Scotland, also in 1968.[5]

In 1970 Gomez created the role of Flora in Michael Tippett's The Knot Garden at the Royal Opera House in London, directed by Peter Hall and conducted by Colin Davis. This performance garnered headlines such as "topless for Tippett".[1] She performed there also as Lisa in Bellini's La sonnambula, as Lauretta in Puccini's Gianni Schicchi and Tytania in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. With Scottish Opera, she portrayed Mozart roles including Pamina in Die Zauberflöte, the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro[4] as well as Leïla in Bizet's Les pêcheurs de perles,[6] Anne Truelove in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress,[4] and Elisabeth in Henze's Elegy for Young Lovers.[1][4] In 1973 she created the role of the Countess in Thea Musgrave's The Voice of Ariadne at the Aldeburgh Festival.[1] She also appeared in productions by the English National Opera (ENO), including the Governess in Britten's The Turn of the Screw[1] in the presence of the composer.[7] She portrayed Cleopatra in Giulio Cesare at the Oper Frankfurt, with two boa constrictors on stage who were not as sleepy as the director had promised, Tatyana in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin,[1] the title role of Verdi's La traviata, Aminta in Il re pastore and Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Kent Opera, Fiordiligi at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux,[6] Massenet's Thaïs[1] and Rosaura in Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's La vedova scaltra at the Wexford Festival Opera, and Teresa in Benvenuto Cellini at the Berlioz Festival in Lyon.[6] She worked closely with Jonathan Miller in La traviata for Kent Opera (Edinburgh Festival and UK tour) and for Eugene Onegin and The Turn of the Screw (with ENO).[1][7]

Gomez was outspoken about the "international opera circus" and had no ambition to sing at the largest houses, preferring smaller venues such as Zürich Opera where sufficient rehearsal time was offered.[7] She appeared there in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's production of Mozart's Lucio Silla, conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt.[8]

In 1995, Gomez created the lead role of the scandalous Duchess of Argyll in Powder Her Face by Thomas Adès,[1][4][9] at the Cheltenham Music Festival. The recording of the production, with the original cast and the composer conducting, was nominated for a Grammy Award.[1][10] Erik Eriksson wrote for AllMusic: "Gomez's portrayal is a tour de force, alternately opulent and unhinged. She achieves the difficult task of making a figure of ridicule into a person who evokes sympathy from the listener".[4] She also took part in radio premieres, performing the title role of William Alwyn's Miss Julie in 1979, alongside Benjamin Luxon and Anthony Rolfe Johnson, conducted by Vilém Tauský. Alwyn was so pleased with her performance that he composed his song cycle Invocations for her.[1] She also sang Prokofiev's Maddalena first on radio, in 1980.[6]

Television and cabaret

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Among many television appearances, Gomez sang Nanetta and Zerlina in the BBC2 programme Master Class, with the 80-year old Carl Ebert in 1967,[11] and in the series Music Now produced by John Drummond in 1968–69.[12] She was then first niece in the 1969 Culshaw/Large BBC production of Peter Grimes filmed at The Maltings.[13], and had a programme devoted to her in 1976 where she introduced and sang a recital of songs with John Constable,[14] soprano soloist in A Child of Our Time in April 1977 on BBC2 conducted by Colin Davis, and soloist in Britten's War Requiem from Dresden Cathedral in 1980 under Herbert Kegel. Other TV and film credits include the French film Une Femme française, and television programmes A Ladies Knight! (1987), Rattle on Britten (1985) and a BBC programme Opera in Rehearsal of the second act of Le nozze di Figaro, with Anthony Besch (1973).[15] She gave successful recitals devoted to cabaret music, some recorded.[4]

Concert

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In concert, Gomez was a soloist in Mahler's Symphony No. 2 with the Israel Philharmonic conducted by Solti. She sang cantatas by Thomas Arne with Jaap Schröder and Concerto Amsterdam. She performed and recorded song cycles for soprano and chamber ensemble, Ravel's Trois poèmes de Mallarmé and Anton Webern's Op. 13 and Op. 14, conducted by Pierre Boulez.[7] She also sang recorded songs, especially those of Spain and France, such as Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne.[4]

Personal life

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Gomez lived in Cambridgeshire with her husband, the journalist and dramaturg Patrick Carnegy, 15th Earl of Northesk.[16]

Gomez died on 11 August 2026, aged 83.[1][9][17]

Recordings

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by composer:

Collections:

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 "Jill Gomez, soprano who went 'topless for Tippett' and played the scandalous Duchess of Argyll". The Telegraph. 15 August 2026. Archived from the original on 16 August 2026. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  2. ↑ Blyth, Alan (1997). "Jill Gomez". The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Macmillan.
  3. 1 2 3 Church, Michael (1993). "You should be in opera". Caribbean Beat. No. 7. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Eriksson, Erik: Jill Gomez Biography, Allmusic. All Media Guide, LLC. retrieved 6. December 2007)
  5. ↑ "Re Pastore 1968 | Tour | Opera Scotland". Opera Scotland. Archived from the original on 27 December 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 Adam, Nicky (ed). Jill Gomez. In: Who's Who in British Opera. Scolar Press, Aldershot, 1993
  7. 1 2 3 4 Symbolic confusion Jill Gomez talks to Simon Mundy. Classical Music 29 March 1980.
  8. ↑ Rockwell, John (23 April 1981). "Critic's Notebook / Exotic Works Enliven Operatic Repertoire". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 24 May 2015. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  9. 1 2 "British soprano Jill Gomez died at the age of 83". La Platea (in Spanish). 14 August 2026. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  10. ↑ "Jill Gomez". Grammy Awards. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  11. ↑ Carl Ebert taking one of his recent BBC-TV 'Master Class' programmes. Opera, October 1967, p. 852 (photo).
  12. ↑ Drummond, J. Tainted by Experience. Faber & Faber, London, 2000, p171.
  13. ↑ Booklet accompanying DVD Peter Grimes, Decca 074 3261 (2008).
  14. ↑ BBC Programme Index – Jill Gomez, BBC2 13 June 1976, accessed 16 August 2026.
  15. ↑ British Film Institute search for Jill Gomez, accessed 15 January 2014.
  16. ↑ Moss, Stephen (9 May 2007), "Desperately seeking Wagner", The Guardian, archived from the original on 19 February 2022, retrieved 30 March 2010
  17. ↑ "British soprano Jill Gomez died at the age of 83". Pizzicato. 14 August 2026. Archived from the original on 14 August 2026. Retrieved 15 August 2026.
  18. ↑ Haywood, Tony (July 2002). "Joseph Canteloube (1897–1957) / Songs of the Auvergne (selection)". Gramophone. Archived from the original on 24 April 2026. Retrieved 16 August 2026.
  19. ↑ O'Connor, Patrick (1994). "Spanish Songbook". Gramophone. Retrieved 16 August 2026.

Sources

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  • Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, 782 pages, ISBN 0-19-869164-5
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Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Jill_Gomez&oldid=1369870641"