Joan Carlyle (6 April 1931 – 31 October 2021) was an English operatic soprano singer. She was born in Upton on the Wirral, Cheshire. After auditioning for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, she was put under contract by the musical director Rafael Kubelík and made her debut in 1955, appearing also under him in The Magic Flute in 1956. She became one of the principal English-speaking singers who emerged at Covent Garden in the 1950s becoming an established member of the Covent Garden Opera Company. The conductor Rudolf Kempe was a powerful influence and nurtured her career. It was with him that she had her first successes in the 1958–59 season as Sophie in Luchino Visconti's production of Der Rosenkavalier , and then as Micaela in Carmen. Under a series of distinguished conductors, Carlyle sang throughout Europe and beyond, making her US debut in March 1963 in the Brahms's A German Requiem with Erich Leinsdorf. Covent Garden years Carlyle emerged in the 1950s along with other singers who also became established members of the Covent Garden company such as sopranos Amy Shuard, Joan Sutherland, Elsie Morison, Marie Collier, and Josephine Veasey; tenors Jon Vickers and Peter Pears; and basses Michael Langdon and Geraint Evans, but it was with Jon Vickers that she was often paired. In 1959 she sang the role of Glauce in Cherubini's Medea with Maria Callas in the title role. Many major roles followed at Covent Garden, including her Nedda in Pagliacci which brought her international acclaim in Franco Zeffirelli's controversial production during the 1959/1960 season. The critic Alan Blyth considered this one of her best roles. She sang Tytania in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, conducted by Georg Solti in his first new production after becoming the company's musical director in 1960. Philip Hope-Wallace, The Guardian 's music critic, noted that the magic which emanated from the stage came in part from "the silvery top of Joan Carlyle's voice". 1962 saw her Pamina in The Magic Flute conducted by Otto Klemperer; her first Countess in Le nozze di Figaro was under Solti, with Tito Gobbi as the Count. In another opera conducted by Solti in 1967, Carlyle sang the title role in Richard Strauss' Arabella. She was the first British singer to perform this role, which she sang opposite Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. Other roles, which she performed throughout many seasons included Oscar in Un