Lois Mc Donall - Career

Career

Lois McDonall made her Canadian Opera Company debut between 1967-9. Her early roles included: Susanna in Wolf-Ferrari's Il Segreto di Susanna and Kate Pinkerton in Puccini's Madame Butterfly. She then went onto the Stadische Buhren in Flensburg, Germany where she played the demanding title role in Puccini's Tosca and Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin. In 1970, McDonall became a resident artist at the Sadler's Wells Opera (now the English National Opera). She appeared on short notice in the title role of Handel's Semele when the lead soprano became ill during the first act. During that season, McDonall sang many performances of Constanze in The Abduction from the Seraglio by Mozart. In following seasons she performed Fiordiligi from Così fan tutte, the Countess in Le nozze di Figaro, Roselinda in Die Fledermaus, Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann, Leonora in Il trovatore, Freia in Das Rheingold, Hanna in The Merry Widow, the title role in Massenet's Manon, Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, Violetta in La traviata, Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw and she created the title role in Iain Hamilton's Anna Karenina. Lois McDonall spent 14 years as a resident artist with the English National Opera. In addition to her tenure at the ENO, McDonall made appearances at the Scottish Opera, the Welsh Opera, Opera North and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where she made her debut in 1975 in Richard Strauss' opera Die Frau ohne Schatten. She had performances in Canada in the 1974 Festival Canada as the Countess and in 1975 with the COC in Die Fledermaus and Donna Anna in Don Giovanni at the Edmonton Opera in 1977. McDonall returned to live in Canada in 1984 and appeared as the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro at the Hamilton Opera. In 1988, she sang the title role in Fedora with Opera in Concert. She also sang in the COC's production of Andrea Chénier in 1989.