Lois McDonall

Lois Jeanette McDonall, CM, soprano, teacher (born 7 February 1939 in Larkspur, AB). Lois McDonall is best known for her work as a resident artist at the English National Opera (1969–84). She also made guest appearances with the Scottish and Welsh National Opera companies and at the Royal Opera House, as well as at summer festivals throughout Great Britain. She appeared in Canada with the Canadian Opera Company (COC), the Edmonton Opera, Opera Hamilton and Toronto Operetta Theatre, and taught at the University of Toronto and the RCMT. She was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2023.

Early Life and Career

Lois McDonall’s early teachers were Eileen McEcheran Turner in Edmonton and Glyndwr Jones in Vancouver. She was a semi-finalist in the 1964 Metropolitan Opera auditions, studied 1965–68 at the University of Toronto with Irene Jessner, and made her Canadian Opera Company (COC) debut in 1967 as Kate Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly.

Career Highlights

Lois McDonall sang the title role in Tosca, Constanze in The Abduction from the Seraglio, and Elsa in Lohengrin 1968–69 in Flensburg, Germany, before becoming a resident artist at Sadler's Wells (now English National Opera) in 1969. She made her debut there on short notice, 21 October 1970, in the title role of Handel's Semele when Elizabeth Harwood became ill in the first act. That season, McDonall sang all subsequent performances of that role, and also sang Constanze in The Abduction from the Seraglio.

In the 1972–73 season at Sadler's Wells, McDonall assumed several new roles: Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus, Antonia in The Tales of Hoffmann, Freia in Das Rheingold, and Hanna in The Merry Widow. In following seasons she added, among others, the title role in Manon (1974), the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier (1975; the critic of The Times wrote: “a beautifully poised reading, distinguished by her properly aristocratic highness of tone and the breadth of her phrasing... her tone for'Hab mir gelobt' was gloriously rich, her phrasing replete with emotion”), Donna Anna in Don Giovanni (1976), Violetta in La Traviata (1976), the title role in Euryanthe (1977), Musetta in La Bohème (1981), and Miss Jessel in The Turn of the Screw (1984).

McDonall played the title role in Iain Hamilton's opera Anna Karenina in 1981 and also premiered other works by him. In addition to her work as a resident artist at the English National Opera (1969–84), she made guest appearances with the Scottish and Welsh National Opera companies, with Opera North, and at the Royal Opera House, as well as at summer festivals throughout Great Britain. She returned to Canada for performances with Festival Canada (the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, 1974; see Festival Ottawa), the COC (Die Fledermaus, 1975), and the Edmonton Opera (Donna Anna, 1977).

McDonall returned to live in Canada in 1984. She appeared as the Countess in Opera Hamilton's 1984 production of The Marriage of Figaro, performed with Toronto Operetta Theatre, created the role of Mrs. Medlock in Stephen McNeff's The Secret Garden for COMUS Music Theatre in 1985, sang the title role in Fedora with Opera in Concert in 1988, and sang in the COC production of Andrea Chenier in 1989. Opera Hamilton and Toronto Operetta Theatre