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Rita Hunter sings arias from Aida,Macbeth, Forza, Gioconda,Tosca, Fidelio, Idomeneo,Cavalleria, Schicchi (in English),\\xa0 and "My Hero" (from the Chocolate Soldier), and " Tosti\'s "Goodbye."

Rita Hunter\\xa0CBE\\xa0(15 August 1933\\xa0\\u2013 29 April 2001) was a British\\xa0operatic\\xa0dramatic\\xa0soprano.

Rita Hunter was born in\\xa0Wallasey, Merseyside and lived in Limekiln Lane. During her childhood, her parents, both fans ofmusic-hall, would take Rita to many of the final tours of the last music-hall artists.^[1]\\xa0She studied singing in Liverpool with Edwin Francis and later in London with Redvers Llewellyn and\\xa0Clive Carey. She joined the\\xa0Sadler\'s Wells Opera\\xa0Company in 1957, and sang in the chorus with them for two years before touring with the\\xa0Carl Rosa Opera Company. She then obtained a grant from the Countess of Munster Trust, which made it possible for her to study for a year with Dame\\xa0Eva Turner. After this she went back to the Company as a principal, where her roles included Senta in\\xa0The Flying Dutchman, Musetta in\\xa0La boh\\xe8me, Odabella in\\xa0Attila, Fata Morgana in\\xa0The Love for Three Oranges, Donna Anna in\\xa0Don Giovanni, Amelia in\\xa0A Masked Ball, Santuzza in\\xa0Cavalleria rusticana, Elizabeth in\\xa0Don Carlos\\xa0and Leonora in\\xa0Il trovatore.

Rita Hunter will be remembered as one of the major\\xa0Wagnerian\\xa0sopranos of the later 20th century, especially for her performances as all three of the\\xa0Br\\xfcnnhildes\\xa0in the\\xa0Ring cycle, conducted by\\xa0Reginald Goodall\\xa0at the\\xa0English National Opera.^[2]\\xa0In this production she was partnered by\\xa0Alberto Remedios\\xa0(who had studied singing at the same time as Hunter inLiverpool\\xa0with Edwin Francis) as\\xa0Siegfried, and\\xa0Norman Bailey\\xa0as\\xa0Wotan. The recordings based on this production, with the same artists, are regarded as amongst the finest available, even though they are sung, in accordance with ENO practice, in English.

In an interview in 1979 Hunter expressed her dissatisfaction with having to sing the same part in both English and the original languages. "I find it very difficult learning a role in different languages. The phrasing is different - one has to take breath in a different place." She also recalled having to know "Santuzza\\xa0in three different English translations as well as in Italian". She found Italian easier to learn and memorize than German.^[1]

In the\\xa0Glen Byam Shaw\\xa0Ring production, the quality of Hunter\'s singing and interpretation enabled audiences to set aside her outsize stature (which conformed to all prejudices about Wagnerian sopranos), and few have matched her conviction as Br\\xfcnnhilde. She made her debut at the New York\\xa0Metropolitan Opera\\xa0on December 19, 1972, in\\xa0Die Walk\\xfcre, with great success (conductor\\xa0Erich Leinsdorf\\xa0and Dame\\xa0Gwyneth Jones\\xa0as\\xa0Sieglinde). She performed the\\xa0G\\xf6tterd\\xe4mmerungBr\\xfcnnhilde at Covent Garden, and also sang the part of Senta there at short notice. Hunter\'s later Metropolitan Opera performances of\\xa0Die Walk\\xfcre\\xa0in 1975 featured\\xa0Birgit Nilsson\\xa0as Sieglinde and were conducted by\\xa0Sixten Ehrling.

She also performed in Wagner and other operas in Munich, Seattle, New Orleans, San Francisco, and with the\\xa0Welsh National Opera. In a memorable San Francisco season, she played the roles of\\xa0Norma\\xa0and\\xa0Sieglinde\\xa0in the same week.

Among conductors with whom she worked whom she found sympathetic to the singer, she cited\\xa0Carlo Felice Cillario\\xa0andRichard Bonynge.^[1]

In 1980 she was appointed a Commander of the\\xa0Order of the British Empire\\xa0(CBE).

In 1981 she moved to\\xa0Sydney\\xa0and joined the\\xa0Australian Opera. In 1986 she published her memoirs,\\xa0Wait till the sun shines, Nellie. She died in Sydney in 2001, aged 67.