British contralto Norma Procter has died at the age of 89, the Grimsby Telegraph reports. She already died on May 2 at Grimsby’s hospital at the end of a long battle with the Parkinson’s disease.

Norma Procter was born on February 15, 1928, in Cleethorpes. She studied with English baritone Roy Henderson. In her career she was especially known for her oratorio and recital work, but also performed in opera, with her debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1961 as Gluck’s Orpheus. She is particularly known for her recordings of Mahler.

Signed program brochure form her concert in Luxembourg in 1972 (Collection of Remy Franck)

She worked with conductors like Bruno Walter, Leonard Bernstein, Jascha Horenstein, Rafael Kubelík, Sir Malcolm Sargent, and Pierre Boulez.

On March 10, 1972, she sang in Mahler’s Second Symphony in Luxembourg, under the baton of Pierre Cao.

  • Pizzicato

  • Archives