June Bronhill - Donizetti: DAUGHTER OF THE REGIMENT, Chacun le sait, Sydney 1975

THE SONGBIRD: June Bronhill (1929 - 2005) was one of the most popular Australian sopranos of the 20th Century, due as much to her bright, accessible, versatile soprano as to her captivating stage personality which critics, colleagues, and the public found irresistible. Bronhill took to music early and after winning third place in the Sydney Sun Aria contest in 1949 (Joan Sutherland came in first that year), she earned first prize in 1950 and then won Melbourne's 1951 Mobil Quest competition. Bronhill ventured to London for further study and career opportunities. Sadler's Wells Opera signed her on in 1954 where she took on a string of standard coloratura roles (Queen of the Night, Norina, Adele, Blonde, Gilda, Olympia) as well as parts in a few off-beat productions. In 1958, Bronhill created a sensation as Hanna in a new production "The Merry Widow" -- it was a huge hit that is credited with saving the company from financial doom. As a newly minted star, she sang four performances of Lucia at Covent Garden in 1960 (in the production that made Sutherland a star), and tackled Zerbinetta at Sadler's Wells. Building off of her tremendous success in "The Merry Widow," Bronhill began to pivot into operetta and legit musical theater, which broadened her audiences and which she often recorded commercially for even wider appeal. She continued performing in musical theater, and as a non-singing actor for stage and television until 1994. Don't miss her Lipton Tea TV commercial or her "La Traviata" spoof, both found on YouTube. For this video, Bronhill sings from a concert at the Sydney Opera House concert hall from 1975. THE MUSIC: Donizetti is an Italian composer through and through, yet "La fille du régiment" falls in the national stylistic cracks as it was composed for the Opera-Comique and premiered there in 1840. Donizetti lived in Paris for two years and wrote "Fille" while there -- his first opera written to a French text. Despite a weak premiere and some negative reviews, the opera became a world-wide hit and a favorite of star coloratura sopranos (Lind, Sontag, Tetrazzini, Patti, Sembrich, Hempel, Dal Monte, Pons, Sutherland, Sills, Dessay, and Damrau to mention only a few). Not to mention famed high tenors, who have launched careers with Tonio's aria and its eight High Cs.