Gwyneth Jones

Dame Gwyneth Jones built an illustrious vocal career around signature interpretations of Turandot and Brünnhilde, infusing every stage appearance with striking physical presence, impeccable musicianship, finely disciplined tone, and profound dramatic commitment.

Born in Pontnewynydd, Wales, in 1936 to Edward George Jones and Violet Webster Jones, she secured a County Council scholarship that funded her training with Arnold Smith and Ruth Packer at London’s Royal College of Music. Additional studies took her to the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Herbert Graf’s International Opera Centre in Zurich, and Maria Carpi’s studio in Geneva. Her professional bow came in 1962 at the Zurich Opera, where she sang the mezzo-soprano role of Annina in Der Rosenkavalier; soon afterward her voice ascended, enabling her first soprano assignment as Amelia in Un Ballo in Maschera. Appearances as Lady Macbeth followed for the Welsh National Opera and the Royal Opera, and she substituted for both Leontyne Price and Régine Crespin at Covent Garden. Subsequent portrayals of Santuzza, Desdemona, and Tosca led to engagements at the Vienna State Opera, La Scala, and the leading houses of Berlin, Paris, Hamburg, and Rome. Reflecting on those experiences, she remarked, “It has given me a special thrill to be accepted at the source -- Verdi and Puccini at La Scala, Mozart and Beethoven in Munich and Vienna, and Wagner at Bayreuth.”

Following her 1966 New York debut in the title role of Cherubini’s Medea, Jones married director Till Haberfeld, and the couple had one child. American acclaim arrived with her Fidelio at the San Francisco Opera and her Metropolitan Opera debut as Sieglinde in Die Walküre in November 1972. A landmark achievement occurred in summer 1976 when she performed all three Brünnhilde roles in the Bayreuth centennial Ring under Pierre Boulez and Patrice Chéreau. Her first Turandot, unveiled at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, had been prepared under her former teacher Dame Eva Turner; the performance was hailed as one of the crowning successes of her later years, establishing her as the preeminent interpreter of the part. She also assumed the roles of Minnie in La Fanciulla del West, the Widow Begbick in Mahagonny, and the Mother in Hänsel und Gretel.

Jones maintained the demanding schedule that had defined her early decades well into the new century. In 2003 she made her first appearance as stage director and costume designer with Der fliegende Holländer, while simultaneously exploring mezzo-soprano and contralto parts. She created the Queen of Hearts in Unsuk Chin’s Alice in Wonderland in 2007 and sang the Countess in Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades for the first time in 2017. Her honors include appointment as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1986, the French Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and the title of Kammersängerin at both the Vienna and Bavarian State Operas.