THE AUSTRALIAN soprano June Bronhill will be remembered with affection by habitués of Sadler’s Wells in the 1950s and 1960s, where her lively presence and bright, beautifully produced soprano voice made her indispensable in operetta.
Her singing of more exacting parts such as Zerbinetta in Ariadne auf Naxos, Gilda in Rigoletto, Norina in Don Pasquale and the Queen of the Night in The Magic Flute persuaded many that, had she wished, she could have made a bigger career in mainstream opera.
When she sang Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor with the Covent Garden company on tour in Oxford in 1959 it was as a substitute for Sutherland, and she survived the comparison with credit.
Bronhill was born June Gough in Broken Hill, New