With one of the most remarkable voices in opera, Welsh operatic dramatic soprano Dame Gwyneth Jones, who is 85 today, gave many of the "bigger" names among Wagnerian divas - like Kirsten Flagstad, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Birgit Nilsson - a run for their money. Having begun her career as a stand-in for the great Leontyne Price, she progressed from operas by the likes of Verdi and Puccini towards more demanding roles in the works of Richard Strauss and Wagner - to huge acclaim.
Here she is in one of her most-remembered performances, the uber-dramatic "Brünnhilde" in Götterdämmerung:
At the height of her powers, she famously undertook the roles of both Elisabeth and Venus in Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival in the 1970s, and she has performed all three major female roles in Elektra on stage. As her voice matured, she took fewer of the diva roles and diversified into Lieder, recitals and character parts; she played the role of "Isolde" in the TV drama series about the life of Wagner, and became an adjudicator in the international Cardiff Singer of the World competition for the BBC.
By pure coincidence she shares a birthday with the late, great Dame Joan Sutherland - and here they are together, at the retirement of the opera manager chief executive of the Royal Opera House, David Webster in 1970:
Fairly recently, she played a retired opera singer in the major film Quartet, alongside Dame Maggie Smith, Sir Tom Courtenay, Pauline Collins, Sir Billy Connolly and Sir Michael Gambon, and received many plaudits from the critics for her role. Largely retired from singing, she remains President of the Wagner Society of Great Britain, a role she has held since 1990.
The last word, as always, goes to the Grande Dame herself - making one of the most memorable appearances as "Britannia" at the Last Night of the Proms in 1991:
Many happy returns, Dame Gwyneth Jones DBE (born 7th November 1936)
