Lynne Dawson

Lynne Dawson (born 3 June 1956, York) is an English soprano. She came to great prominence through her performance as a soloist in Libera me from Verdi’s Requiem with the BBC Singers at Princess Diana’s funeral in September 1997. Lynne Dawson has recorded over seventy-five CDs and has a varied concert and operatic repertoire.

Biography

Growing up in Yorkshire, Dawson fully expected to continue the farming tradition of her family, and indeed singing was not her first career; she first worked in industry as a translator. However, later she studied at both the Guildhall School of Music and Britten-Pears School in Suffolk, where her teachers included Rae Woodland, Gerald Moore and Peter Pears. Her time as a music student, however, was limited as she soon obtained enough professional work to embark upon a career and made her operatic debut in 1986 as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro (Kent Opera). Dawson’s position as one of England’s most versatile and popular sopranos was confirmed by her performance as a soloist in Libera me from Verdi’s Requiem with the BBC Singers at the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales in September 1997. She still continues a busy musical schedule, is head of vocal and opera studies at the Royal Northern College of Music as well as the University of York and is a Professor of Leeds College of Music.

Dawson

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People with first name Dawson

Stephen Cleobury

Stephen Cleobury CBE (/ˈkliːbrɪ/ KLEE-bri; born Bromley 31 December 1948) is an English organist and conductor.

Life

Early Years

He was organ scholar at St John's College, Cambridge under the musical directorship of George Guest, and sub-organist of Westminster Abbey before becoming Master of Music at Westminster Cathedral in 1979. He was also the President of the Royal College of Organists from 1990 to 1992. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Music, and an Honorary Doctor of Music at Anglia Ruskin University.

King's College, Cambridge

In 1982 he took up the position of Director of Music for the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, where he also teaches music. He was conductor of Cambridge University Musical Society (CUMS) from 1983 to 2009, and made many recordings with that group, including Verdi’s Quattro Pezzi Sacri and Goehr’s The Death of Moses. As part of the celebrations of the 800th anniversary of Cambridge University, he premiered Peter Maxwell Davies' The Sorcerer’s Mirror. He was also Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers from 1995 to 2007, and has been Conductor Laureate since 2007.

Diana, Princess of Wales

Diana, Princess of Wales (Diana Frances;née Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was the first wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, who is the eldest child and heir apparent of Queen Elizabeth II.

Diana was born into a family of British nobility with royal ancestry as The Honourable Diana Spencer. She was the fourth child and third daughter of John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer and the Honourable Frances Shand Kydd. She grew up in Park House, situated on the Sandringham estate, and was educated in England and Switzerland. In 1975, after her father inherited the title of Earl Spencer, she became Lady Diana Spencer.

Her wedding to the Prince of Wales on 29 July 1981, held at St Paul's Cathedral, reached a global television audience of over 750 million people. While married, Diana bore the titles Princess of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, Countess of Chester, and Baroness of Renfrew. The marriage produced two sons, the princes William and Harry, who were then respectively second and third in the line of succession to the British throne. As Princess of Wales, Diana undertook royal duties on behalf of the Queen and represented her at functions overseas. She was celebrated for her charity work and for her support of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. From 1989, she was the president of Great Ormond Street Hospital for children, in addition to dozens of other charities.

Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales

The public funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales started on 6 September 1997 at 9:08 am in London, when the tenor bell sounded to signal the departure of the cortege from Kensington Palace. The coffin was carried from the palace on a gun carriage, along Hyde Park to St. James' Palace, where Diana's body had remained for five days before being taken to Kensington Palace. The Union Flag on top of the palace was lowered to half mast. The official ceremony was held at Westminster Abbey in London and finished at the resting place in Althorp.

Two thousand people attended the ceremony in Westminster Abbey while the British television audience peaked at 32.10 million, one of the United Kingdom's highest viewing figures ever. Two billion people traced the event worldwide, making it one of the most watched events in history.

Funeral

Diana's coffin, draped with the royal standard with an ermine border, was brought to London from the Salpêtrière Hospital, via Vélizy – Villacoublay Air Base, Paris, by Diana's ex-husband Charles, Prince of Wales and her two sisters on 31 August 1997. After being taken to a private mortuary it was put at the Chapel Royal, St. James's Palace.