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Helen Watts CBE, contralto from Milford Haven

Helen Watts

Contralto

Helen Josephine Watts was born in Milford Haven on 7 December 1927. She was educated at Taskers School for Girls in Haverfordwest and at Abbots Bromley, and trained at the Royal Academy of Music, beginning her career in the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus.

Her rich contralto quickly made her one of the most admired concert singers in Britain. She made her Proms debut in 1955 singing Bach, and became especially associated with Bach and Handel, recording forty Bach cantatas with Helmuth Rilling as well as Handel's Messiah.

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One of the finest British contraltos of her generation, from Milford Haven.

In opera she toured the Soviet Union with Benjamin Britten's English Opera Group in 1964, singing the title role in The Rape of Lucretia, sang at Covent Garden, and joined Welsh National Opera in 1969 as Mistress Quickly in Falstaff, appearing with the company until 1983. She also recorded Welsh songs with the Treorchy Male Choir, was a guest on Desert Island Discs in 1970, and was appointed CBE in 1978.

Career Highlights

  • 1955 - Proms debut
  • 1964 - Lucretia in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia on tour in the Soviet Union
  • 1978 - Appointed CBE
ℹ️ Born 7 December 1927 in Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire, Wales.
ℹ️ Died 7 October 2009, aged 81.

Born in Milford Haven and schooled at Taskers School in Haverfordwest before training at the Royal Academy of Music.

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