Jill Gomez
Trinidadian and British soprano (1942–2026)
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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 age 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 Tippetts'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 house 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 is regarded as a singular achievement.
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21 September 1942
Jill Gomez The Countess of Northesk | |
|---|---|
Gomez, in the 1970s | |
| Born | Barbara Jill Gomez 21 September 1942 New Amsterdam, British Guiana |
| Died | 11 August 2026 (aged 83) United Kingdom |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Operatic soprano |
| Spouse | Patrick Carnegy, 15th Earl of Northesk |
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 wrote that she was "blessed with a sensuously beautiful and creamy voice".[1]
Life and career
Gomez was born in New Amsterdam, British Guiana (now Guyana),[1][2] to Albert Clyde Gomez, a Spanish Trinidadian and to 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
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 made the audition for the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus and performed with it from 1966 to 1968, winning the John Christie Award both latter years.[1]
Opera
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 Tippetts's The Knot Garden at the Royal Opera House in London in 1970, directed by Peter Hall and conducted by Colin Davis, and making 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 the 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 constrictor 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 in at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux,[6] Manet'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.
In 1995, Gomez created the lead role of the scandalous Duchess of Argyll in Powder Her Face by Thomas Adès,[1][4][8] 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][9] 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 performannce 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
Gomez made her television debut in the series Music Now produced by John Drummond in 1968–69,[10] and 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).[11] She gave successful recitals devoted to cabaret music, some recorded.[4]
Concert
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 sang recorded songs, especially those of Spain and France, such as Canteloube's Chants d'Auvergne.[4]
Personal life
Gomez lived in Cambridgeshire with her husband, the music critic Patrick Carnegy, 15th Earl of Northesk.[12]
Recordings
by composer:
- Adès, Thomas – Powder Her Face, Almeida Ensemble, Thomas Adès, cond. EMI Classics 7243 5 56649 2 OCLC 63557167
- Alwyn, William
- Invocations, song cycle, John Constable, piano, CHAN 9220 OCLC 30350166
- Miss Julie (title role), Philharmonia Orchestra, Vilém Tauský cond. Lyrita SRCD2218 OCLC 906566058
- Britten
- A Midsummer Night's Dream (Helena), City of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox, cond. OCLC 247267371
- Les Illuminations]], Endymion Ensemble, John Whitfield, cond. EMI Classics 95579 OCLC 1294861129
- Canteloube – Songs of the Auvergne, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Vernon Handley, cond. awarded a Rosette in the Penguin Guide to CDs and DVDs. EMI Eminence – CD-EMX 9500 OCLC 638045262
- De Falla – The Three-Cornered Hat, Philharmonia Orchestra, Yan Pascal Tortelier, cond. CHAN8904 OCLC 971996480
- Fauré – Pelléas et Mélisande, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, David Zinman, cond. Philips 464701 OCLC 909171555
- Handel – Acis and Galatea (Galatea), Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Neville Marriner, cond. Argo ZRG 886–887 OCLC 4852225
- Hoddinot, Alun – Sinfonia Fidei, Stuart Burrows, Philharmonia Orchestra and Chorus, Charles Groves, cond. Lyrita 332 OCLC 38037841
- Matthews, David
- Cantiga, Bournemouth Sinfonietta, John Carewe, cond. – NMC 84 OCLC 811455439
- Notturni ed alba, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Louis Frémaux, cond. EMI Studio 63176 OCLC 48152323
- Monteverdi – Vespro della Beata Vergine, Monteverdi Choir, Philip Jones Brass Ensemble, Monteverdi Orchestra, John Eliot Gardiner, cond. Decca 443482 OCLC 1385344420
- Mozart
- Don Giovanni (Elvira, in German), Orchestra of the Ludwigsburg Festival, Wolfgang Gönnenwein, cond. OCLC 725679324
- Songs, John Constable, piano. SAGA 5441 LP OCLC 869022919
- Pergolesi – Stabat Mater, Eufoda 1036 / 6803 143 LP OCLC 19257070
- Ravel – Trois poèmes de Mallarmé, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Pierre Boulez, cond. CBS M39023 OCLC 874077853
- Tippett – The Knot Garden, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Colin Davis, cond. Philips 6700 063 OCLC 733092569
- Villa-Lobos – Bachianas Brasileiras (No 5: Suite for Voice and Violin), Anthony Pleeth, Cello Octet, Peter Manning, cond. Hyperion 66257 OCLC 874344222
- Wagner – Die Feen (extracts), Orchestra of the International Bayreuth Youth Festival, , cond. Colosseum Colos SM 4002 OCLC 1284400268
- Walton
- Troilus and Cressida, Act II, London Symphony Orchestra, André Previn, cond. CD recording from the BBC Proms: Sir William Walton's 70th Anniversary Concert, JG private collection
- A Song for the Lord Mayor's Table (Songs after Edith Sitwell), City of London Sinfonia, Richard Hickox CHAN8824 OCLC 875687484
Collections:
- Cabaret Classics: 17 songs by Weill, Zemlinsky, Schoenberg and Satie, John Constable, piano. Unicorn-Kanchana OCLC 19952685
- Songs by Bizet, Berlioz and Debussy, John Constable, piano. LP SAGA 5388 OCLC 1011496128
- A Spanish Songbook, songs by Villancicos, Hugo Wolf, Robert Schumann, Bizet, Ravel, Saint-Saens, Enrique Granados, Walton John Constable, piano. 1994, Conifer Classics CDCF 243 OCLC 841891731
- South of the Border ... down Mexico way (The Lady in Red by Allie Wrubel; Begin the Beguine Cole Porter; Peanut Vendor Moisés Simons; Perfida Alberto Domínguez; The Carioca Vincent Youmans; Amor, Amor, Amor Gabriel Ruiz; Orchids in the moonlight Youmans; Cielito Lindo Pablo Santos; Nina from Argentina Noël Coward; Poinciana Nat Simon; La Cucaracha traditional; La Paloma Sebastián de Iradier; Flying down to Rio Youmans) The Markham and Nettle Piano Duo, National Philharmonic Orchestra, Barry Wordsworth , cond. OCLC 1483670130