View source for Una Hale

{{Short description|Australian operatic soprano}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2016}}
'''Una Rosalind Hale''' (18 November 1922 – 4 March 2005) was an Australian operatic [[soprano]], mainly known in her native country and in the United Kingdom.
==History==
Hale was born in [[Wayville, South Australia]] to Unitarian minister [[George Ernest Hale]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208075526 |title=Family Notices |newspaper=[[The Journal (Adelaide)]] |volume=LVII |issue=15986 |location=South Australia |date=20 November 1922 |accessdate=30 April 2019 |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and Florence Elizabeth Hale, née Picken.
She was educated at [[Adelaide]]'s [[Annesley College|Methodist Ladies' College]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48170594 |title="Robin Hood" To Be Staged By M.L.C. Pupils |newspaper=[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)]] |location=South Australia |date=18 August 1936 |accessdate=30 April 2019 |page=9 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and the [[Adelaide Conservatorium]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48680345 |title=Final Concert at Conservatorium |newspaper=[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)]] |volume=88 |issue=27197 |location=South Australia |date=4 December 1945 |accessdate=30 April 2019 |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref>
She left for Britain in 1946 to study at the [[Royal College of Music]]<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article35701700 |title=Young Singer To Study In London |newspaper=[[The Advertiser (Adelaide)]] |volume=88 |issue=27370 |location=South Australia |date=26 June 1946 |accessdate=30 April 2019 |page=4 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> and appeared with the [[Carl Rosa Opera Company]] from 1949 to 1954, playing many leading roles, such as Violetta in [[Giuseppe Verdi|Verdi]]'s ''[[La Traviata]]'' Micaela ''[[Carmen]]'' and Marguerite in [[Charles Gounod|Gounod]]'s ''[[Faust (opera)|Faust]]''.
In 1954, Hale was engaged as a principal soprano at the [[Royal Opera, London|Royal Opera]], [[Covent Garden]], where she sang most of the major [[lyric soprano]] roles. She was particularly noted for her portrayals of Ellen Orford in [[Benjamin Britten|Britten]]'s ''[[Peter Grimes]]'', Eva in [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]]'s ''[[Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg]]'', The Marschallin in [[Richard Strauss]]'s ''[[Der Rosenkavalier]]'', and Liu in [[Giacomo Puccini|Puccini]]'s ''[[Turandot]]''. In 1956, she portrayed Naomi in the world première of [[Lennox Berkeley]]'s opera, ''[[Ruth (opera)|Ruth]]''. The production was mounted by the [[English Opera Group]] with [[Anna Pollak]] singing the title role and [[Peter Pears]] portraying Boaz.
In 1962, Hale sang the title role in the Australian première of Strauss's ''[[Ariadne auf Naxos]]'' by the [[S.A. Symphony Orchestra]] under [[Charles Mackerras]], as part of the [[Adelaide Festival]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.catalog.slsa.sa.gov.au:443/record=b2092816~S1|title=S.A. Symphony Orchestra rehearsal|publisher=State Library of South Australia|year=1962|access-date=30 October 2019}} Photograph may only be viewed at the Library.</ref> During that same season, she also portrayed Donna Anna in [[Mozart]]'s ''[[Don Giovanni]]'' and Alice Ford in Verdi's ''[[Falstaff (opera)|Falstaff]]''. From 1963 to 1964, she sang Ellen Orford and Tosca with the [[Sadler's Wells Opera Company]], and [[Tosca]] and The Marschallin in Romania with the [[Romanian National Opera, Bucharest|Romanian National Opera]]. In 1960, she married Martin Carr, at that time Technical Director of the Royal Ballet — subsequently a theatre consultant — and retired from the stage in 1965 after the births of her sons, the composer [[Paul Carr (composer)|Paul Carr]] and the conductor and chorus master [[Gavin Carr]]. She spent the rest of her life in [[Bath, England]].
==References==
[[File:Una Hale and Martin Carr Gravestone.jpg|thumb]]
{{Reflist}}
==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* [https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!topic/alt.obituaries/2GxJMVDO38s Obituary] from ''[[The Times]]'' of London
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hale, Una}}
[[Category:1922 births]]
[[Category:2005 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian women opera singers]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Royal College of Music]]
[[Category:Australian operatic sopranos]]
[[Category:Australian expatriates in England]]