The Australian soprano Eilene Hannan, who has died of cervical cancer aged 67, is remembered by audiences and colleagues alike as one of the key singing-actresses associated with English National Opera in the late 1970s and 80s, and emblematic of the intense communication and psychological truth sought in the productions of the so-called Powerhouse regime. Having sung the role of Natasha in Prokofiev's War and Peace at the opening of the Sydney Opera House in 1973 a performance that launched her international career she became associated with ENO within a few years, earning effusive approbation in roles such as Mimì, Susanna, Pamina, Rusalka and Mélisande between 1978 and 1987.
The youngest of four children born to George Hannan, a Liberal party senator in the Australian parliament, and Eileen, his wife, she was educated at the Sacré Coeur school in Melbourne and made her debut with Australian Opera as Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro (1971). The quality of her "fresh young soprano" was noted at the Sydney Opera House opening, as was her striking stage appearance: "all tossing black curls and delectable pink and white muslin dresses, [she] looked just right as the wide-eyed, life-hungry heroine Natasha". When she appeared as Salome in Massenet's Hérodiade (Wexford, 1977), Rodney Milnes noted that "her slightly grainy, very true soprano is most attractive", while being similarly enchanted by her appearance: "she looked simply gorgeous". Her appearance at Glyndebourne as a highly praised Vixen in Janáek's rustic tale The Cunning Little Vixen earlier that year had marked her British debut.
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