Opera Scotland

Margaret Neville Suggest updates

Born Southampton, 3 April 1939.

Died Barton on Sea, Hampshire, 30 May 2025.

English soprano.

Margaret Neville studied in London at the Royal Academy of Music, making her professional debut at Covent Garden in 1962 (First Boy in Die Zauberflöte, conducted by Otto Klemperer).

She joined Sadler's Wells Opera in 1964, spending several seasons to the end of the decade as a member of the ensemble in London and on the annual tours (which included Scotland). Her range of roles in the soubrette and lyric repertoire included Gluck (Amor); Mozart (Despina, Papagena); Verdi (Gilda); Bizet (Frasquita); Humperdinck (Gretel); Stravinsky (Anne Trulove); Britten (First Niece) and Williamson (Mathilde The Violins of Saint-Jacques).

Neville then moved to Germany, where she spent the rest of her career, both at Cologne (repeating Gretel) and Stuttgart (Woglinde). She returned occasionally to work with British companies, including the Royal Opera (Frasquita) and Opera North (Susanna, Countess Almaviva).  During this period she made two visits to Scottish Opera (Norina, Pamina).