Josephine Barstow

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Dame Josephine Barstow, DBE, born 27 September 1940 in Sheffield, England, is an English operatic soprano. She studied at the University of Birmingham and made her professional debut in 1964 as Mimì in La Bohème with Opera for All. A scholarship to the London Opera Centre in 1965–66 helped her develop, and she met her husband, Ande Anderson (d. 1996), during that time.

In 1968 she signed a three-year contract with Welsh National Opera. Her Royal Opera House debut came in 1969 as one of the nieces in Peter Grimes, and she went on to sing many roles there, including Alice Ford in Falstaff, Santuzza in Cavalleria Rusticana, Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes, Leonore in Fidelio, and the Old Countess in The Queen of Spades.

Barstow performed in the world premieres of Tippett’s The Knot Garden (as Denise) and The Ice Break (as Gayle). At Glyndebourne she appeared as Lady Macbeth, Elettra in Idomeneo, and Leonore. With the English National Opera she sang Violetta, Emilia Marty in The Makropulos Case, Natasha in War and Peace (the British premiere), Salome, Aida, Arabella, Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, and Der Rosenkavalier.

A 1975 BBC Arena program featured rehearsals and an interview with Barstow around Salome. International appearances include the New York Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Vienna State Opera, and the Bayreuth Festival.

Later, she performed with Opera North in roles such as Alice Ford, Lady Macbeth, Kostelnicka in Jenůfa, Marie in Wozzeck, Lady Billows in Albert Herring, and the title roles in Gloriana, Médée, and Aida. In 2021–22 she sang and spoke the role of Madame Armfeldt in A Little Night Music for Opera North.

In 1986 she performed the Dance of the Seven Veils in Seattle Opera, with choreography by Mark Morris. She also appeared at an Opera North gala in 1986 and returned in 2011 as the Countess in The Queen of Spades for Opera North (a production repeated at The Grange Festival in 2023). In 2017 she played Heidi Schiller in the National Theatre’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Follies.

Barstow was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1985 and was promoted to Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1995. She is represented by Musichall Ltd.