Opera Scotland

Gelda Bell Suggest updates

Scottish soprano.

Gelda Bell was one of the leading performers with a cluster of amateur opera companies in the east of Scotland during the final quarter of the twentieth century, including Edinburgh Grand, Fife and Tayside Operas (based in Edinburgh, Kirkcaldy and Dundee). She began as a coloratura soprano, with parts including Gilda and Lakmé; later taking on more dramatic roles such as Abigaille and Gioconda.

Her repertoire included Mozart (Fiordiligi); Verdi (Abigaille, Gilda, Leonora Trovatore, Violetta, Amelia Masked Ball, Preziosilla, Aïda); Delibes (Lakmé); Ponchielli (Gioconda); Tchaikovsky (Governess Queen of Spades); Leoncavallo (Nedda); Mascagni (Santuzza); Puccini (Mimì).

Roles in Scotland

Nedda Canio's wife
Pagliacci 1973
Pagliacci 1980
Gilda Rigoletto's daughter
Rigoletto 1973
Designer - Costumes
Rigoletto 1973
Cavalleria Rusticana 1980
Pagliacci 1980
Amelia wife of Anckarström (Adelia)
Masked Ball 1975
Masked Ball 1991
Preziosilla a gypsy
Force of Destiny 1976
Mimì a seamstress
Bohème 1977
Fiordiligi a young lady from Ferrara, engaged to Guglielmo
Così fan tutte 1979
Santuzza a village girl
Cavalleria Rusticana 1980
Gioconda a ballad singer
Gioconda 1984
Leonora a Duchess, lady-in-waiting to the Princess of Aragon
Trovatore 1985
Aïda an Ethiopian slave
Aïda 1986
Governess to Lisa
Queen of Spades 1990
Abigaille a slave, supposed elder daughter of Nabucco
Nabucco 1993

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