Distinguished soprano who led Sydney Opera House opening production passes away at 67.

The Australian soprano who played the lead role of Natasha in the legendary production of Prokofiev’s epic War and Peace that opened the Sydney Opera House in 1973 has died at the age of 67.

Born on July 24, 1946 in Melbourne, Eilene Hannan originally hoped to be a social worker, but was advised against it because of her naturally passionate nature. She joined the Australian Opera instead, later moving to London where she became a member of English National Opera, which in the 1980s was enjoying a golden age under director David Pountney and music director Mark Elder. Her performance in Pountney’s acclaimed production of Dvořák’s Rusalka is captured on an Arthaus DVD.

Hannan performed in all the major opera houses and concert halls in Britain, Europe and Australia. Her wide and eclectic repertoire included Mozart’s Pamina, Susanna, Cherubino, Dorabella and Zerlina, Mimì in La Bohème, Tatyana in Eugene Onegin, Debussy’s Mélisande, Blanche in Poulenc’s Dialogues des Carmélites, the title roles in Janáček’s Kát’a Kabanová, Jenůfa, and The Cunning Little Vixen, Verdi’s Princess Eboli, Pat Nixon in Adams’ Nixon in China, Wagner’s Sieglinde and Venus, Salome...