Soprano Rebecca Caine was born in Toronto and studied at The Guildhall School of Music.
Uniquely, her career has been divided between Opera and Musical Theatre, making her West End debut at 19 in the role of Laurey in Oklahoma! She then sang the role of Eliza in My Fair Lady on a national tour of the UK. After debuting at Glyndebourne as Amor in L'Incoronazione Di Poppea , she was asked to join the Royal Shakespeare Company where she created the role of Cosette in Les Miserables.
She then joined the original cast of The Phantom Of The Opera, playing Christine opposite Michael Crawford, a role she repeated in Toronto. This precipitated her North American operatic debut for the Canadian Opera Company, a critcally acclaimed performance as Lulu in the title role of Berg's opera.
This success led to offers from international opera companies in repetoire ranging from Monteverdi to Maxwell Davies, including Pamina, Despina, Susanna, Aminta (Re Pastore), Vixen, Michaela, Musetta, Ophelie, Leila, Marguerite, Violetta, Julietta (Martinu) and Adina for companies such as COC, Scottish Opera, English National Opera, Glimmerglass, Spoleto, Opera de Nice, De Vlaamse Oper, New Zealand Opera, National Theatre of Prague and Opera North. Her most recent success was a highly praised performance of Hanna Glawari in Lehar's The Merry Widow for Opera Holland Park in London (Summer 2006).
Rebecca broadcasts for BBC Radio 3 include Candide , One Touch Of Venus, Trouble In Tahiti, The Telephone and concerts of Bernstein, Porter and Kern.
Rebecca works and studies with Gerald Martin Moore and features on several CD recordings including Les Miserables (Original London Cast), The Phantom Of The Opera (Canadian Cast), Anything Goes, EMI, Babes In Toyland and Mr Emmett Takes A Walk.Future Sound Of London Dead Cities Everybody is doing something without me.
Personal
Rebecca lives in London and Sandwich (Kent). She is married to Tim Richards , Company Manager on the West End Production of Chicago.
She is very interested in the history and evolution of the lyric soprano voice in musicals and is sorry to hear how much mixing of the chest voice is creeping into the current sound , leading to a shallowness at the top of the range. Also she is not too keen on the complete inability to sing a proper "oo" sound . What's that about? Discuss!
World Premieres
A notable interpreter of 20th century and contemporary opera, world premieres have included:
Toronto Symphony pres. Jezebel (Role - Title Role: An oratorio by Robertson Davies and Derek Holman)
Opera North pres. Playing Away (Role - L.A. Lola: by Howard Brenton and Benedict Mason)
Canadian Opera Company pres. The Golden Ass (Role - Fotis: By Robertson Davies and Randolph Peters)
Psappha pres. Mr Emmett Takes A Walk (Role - 6 Female Roles: By David Pountney and Peter Maxwell- Davies)
Dearest Ms. Caine, I wanted to thank you for being such an inspiration to me. I remember your performance as Christine Daaé and it was one of the moments where I looked at the stage as a child and wanted to be just like the beautiful woman on there. Thank you for years of inspiration!
Just wanted to add what a fantastic evening! It was wonderful to hear some of the lesser known songs. Now desperate to hear the full scores for Ragtime and Nine. Wonderful, thank you. All at Cheri X
Oh, that's funny :) I think you're right about it being the oldest piece out there. And I remember it so well. I could almost talk along with everybody! I still have it on vhs but it's on PAL so I can't watch it :( One day I'll get all my Les Mis stuff transferred. Hope you're well. xoxo J
Thank you for the add! And what welcome news: You're coming to Chicago next spring! (For an opera I know nothing about. Clearly this should be fixed.) An opportunity to hear your beautiful voice again, not just in person but without a sound system in the way!
You were my first Christine, on my first trip to Toronto in December 1989, and I have fond memories of your wonderful performance. (To go along with the memory of my eyebrows curling when the flashpots went off at the end of the mausoleum scene! *g*)
This musical-theatre-loving lyric soprano is very happy to have encountered you and your thoughts here on MySpace, and I'll look forward to more as you add them.
Thanks for the add. You're such an amazing singer. I hope you'll perform in Belgium one day soon. You were so amazing in La Bohème and Cosi Fan Tutte at the Flemish Opera.
