Isobel Bailie

Isobel Baillie
1895-1983
English Soprano
Studied in Manchester as a pupil of Sadler Fogg .Her first performance of the Messiah at the age of 15 .In 1921 she was invited to appear with Manchester's Hallé Orchestra, and she made her first, highly successful, London appearance in 1923. During 1925-1926 she studied with Guglielmo Somma in Milan. Thereafter she made numerous appearances as an oratorio and Lieder artist in England. Although she did not regard herself as an operatic singer, her performances of Gluck's Orpheus and Charles Gounod's Faust were very popular .She performed in Handel’s Messiah , Haydn's Creation, Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah, and Johannes Brahms's German Requiem and. J. Brahms's Requiem. She was also noted for her renderings of British music, including Ralph Vaughan Williams's Serenade to Music (of which she was the original singer), Edward Elgar's The Kingdom, and Herbert Howells's Hymnus Paradisi.She taught at the Royal College of Music in London (1955-1957, 1961-1964), Cornell University in Ithaca, New York (1960-1961), and the Manchester School of Music (from 1970). She continued to give lectures and recitals until her retirement.In 1951 she was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire; and in 1978 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.