Dame Janet Baker's highly individual mezzo soprano voice, combines with personality, intelligence and great dramatic range to make her a remarkable recording artist as well as a fine performer on the stage. She is one of the outstanding British mezzo sopranos of our time.
Born in England, in 1933, she studied in London and made her dÈbut in 1956, with the Oxford University Opera Club. In 1959 she sang the first of the Handel opera roles with which she later became associated. Between 1961 and 1976 she sang regularly with the English Opera Group, including the role of Nancy in Britten's Albert Herring and Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas.
Having worked with Scottish Opera, she sang regularly for the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden from 1966.
Her repertoire included Vitellia in Mozart's La Clemenza di Tito, Maria Stuarda, in Donizetti's opera of the same name and Charlotte in Massenet's Werther. Many fans remember her outstanding portrayal of the title role in Handel's Julius Caesar at the English National Opera in 1976.
She is also well-known for her performances of the music of Monteverdi and Cavalli.
