Yvonne Minton
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Yvonne Fay Minton CBE (born December 4, 1938 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian opera singer. She is variously billed as a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto.
She studied voice on a scholarship at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. She won the National Eisteddfod in Canberra, as well as number of other singing competitions. She became one of the country's leading contraltos, appearing often on radio and television and with the Sydney and Queensland orchestras.
Ms. Minton left Australia in 1961 to pursue her studies in London. The same year, she won the Kathleen Ferrier Prize for the best contralto at the International Vocalist Competition at s’Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. Her first major part in England was as Maggie Dempster in the premiere of Nicholas Maw's One Man Show.
Shortly thereafter, she became a regular member of the company of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. She has since appeared with most of the major English orchestras and in opera houses throughout Europe and the United States. She has also appeared at Bayreuth and the Salzburg Festival. In 1972, she made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Octavian in Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier. In 1979, she was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for her contributions to music.