Della Jones

Della Jones (born 13 April 1946), is a Welsh mezzo-soprano, particularly well known for her interpretations of works by Handel, Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, and Britten.

Jones was born in Tonna, near Neath, Wales. She studied at the Royal College of Music, where she won the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Scholarship, and later in Geneva, where she made her professional debut in 1970, as Feodor in Boris Godunov and Olga in Eugene Onegin.

In 1977 she joined the English National Opera, where she created the role of Dolly in Iain Hamilton's Anna Karenina in 1981, and the Royal Opera House in 1983, and began appearing abroad, notably in France, Italy, and the United States.

She sang Arne's Rule, Britannia! alongside John Tomlinson at 1993 Last Night of the Proms.

Her repertoire ranges from baroque to contemporary works, with a specialty in the bel canto operas, notably of Rossini. In the mid 1970s she began a long association with Opera Rara, appearing in many long-forgotten bel canto works, both on stage and on recording. She can be heard in complete recordings of Donizetti's Ugo, conte di Parigi, L'assedio di Calais, Maria Padilla, Meyerbeer's Il crociato in Egitto and Rossini's Ricciardo e Zoraide and made a solo album with the title Della Jones sings Donizetti, in all of which one can appreciate her impeccable coloratura technique and strong feeling for words and music.