The soprano April Cantelo, who has died aged 96, excelled in music ranging from the baroque period to the contemporary, on stage and in the concert hall. She was involved in many premieres of new works.
Her operatic debut as a soloist came with the Glyndebourne festival company at the Edinburgh festival in 1950, singing Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro and Echo in Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos. These she repeated at the company’s base in Lewes, East Sussex, going on to add Blonde in Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1953), Marzelline in Fidelio (1963), and finally Erisbe in Cavalli’s L’Ormindo, directed by the composer’s great champion at Glyndebourne, Raymond Leppard, on the company’s first UK tour (1968-69).
