Helen Donaldson
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Helen Donaldson (born 14 March 1968 in Rockhampton, Queensland) is an Australian operatic soprano, best known for her performances of the heroines in Gilbert and Sullivan operas.
Biography
[edit]Donaldson started singing at the age of seven, after winning an eisteddfod. She was trained at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Brisbane, and graduated with a Bachelor of Music and a Graduate Diploma in Opera. While at university, her roles included Phyllis in Gilbert and Sullivan's Iolanthe.
Her first professional role was as a chorus member and swing in The Phantom of the Opera in 1990. The role that gave her recognition in Australia was Mabel in Essgee Entertainment's The Pirates of Penzance (1994). Her other Essgee shows were The Mikado (as Yum-Yum), HMS Pinafore (as Josephine), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1999, as Philia) and The Merry Widow (as Anna in Brisbane, in 1998; and as Valencienne in Melbourne, Victoria, Adelaide, South Australia, and Perth, Western Australia, in 1999).
Donaldson has performed in more than twenty operas, including Cinderella's Bad Magic as Cinderella, in Russia and the United States. In 2008, she returned to Australia and Essgee, reprising the role of Yum-Yum in The Mikado.
She has four children, three daughters and a son.
Sources
[edit]- Cooper, Nathanael, "Coast's own diva", The Sunshine Coast Daily, 10 June 2008
- The Queensland Pops Orchestra, Biography: Helen Donaldson