Opera Scotland

Iris Kells Suggest updates

Born Pachmari, India, 31 March 1923.

Died 10 August 2016.

English soprano.

Iris Kells grew up in India, and came to Britain in 1939 to study in London at the Royal College of Music. Her teachers included Ralph Vaughan Williams. She later trained under Clive Carey, and joined the chorus at Covent Garden in 1949.

She sang a number of short solo roles at the Royal Opera House, including the creation of two parts in the Vaughan Williams Pilgrim's Progress. Most of her career through the 1960s was spent at Sadler's Wells. She sang a range of 'soubrette' roles, including Zerlina and Despina, and was particularly successful as Gretel and Offenbach's Eurydice.

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