Metropolitan Opera on 19 December 1972, in Die Walküre, with great success (conductor Erich Leinsdorf and Dame Gwyneth Jones as Sieglinde). She performed the Götterdämmerung Brünnhilde at Covent Garden, and also sang the part of Senta there at short notice. Hunter's later Metropolitan Opera performances of Die Walküre in 1975 featured Birgit Nilsson as Sieglinde and were conducted by Sixten Ehrling. She also performed in Wagner and other operas in Munich, Seattle, New Orleans, San Francisco, and with the Welsh National Opera. Among conductors with whom she worked whom she found sympathetic to the singer, she cited Carlo Felice Cillario and Richard Bonynge. Honours In 1980 she was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). She was also the recipient of Hon. RAM. Hon. DMUS (Doctor of Music Liverpool University) and Hon.DLIT (Doctor of Letters Warwick University) Autobiography In 1981 she moved to Sydney and joined the Australian Opera. Her autobiography, Wait till the sun shines, Nellie, was published by Hamish Hamilton in 1986. She died in Sydney in 2001, aged 67 and is survived by her daughter, Mairwyn Curtis (nee Hunter-Thomas) and her two grandchildren. Notes References Forbes, Elizabeth, ‘Hunter, Rita Nellie (1933–2001)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edition, Oxford University Press, Jan 2005 (accessed 30 June 2007) 'In Memoriam: Rita Hunter', The Musical Times, online edition Summer 2001 (accessed 30 June 2007) Griffiths, Paul, 'Rita Hunter, 67, Soprano Skilled in Wagner', The New York Times, May 6, 2001 (accessed 23 March 2008) Die Walküre cond. Reginald Goodall, Booklet of explanatory notes to item SLS 5063, (EMI, London 1976). External links Rita Hunter Official website 1933 births 2001 deaths English operatic sopranos Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Wallasey 20th-century British women opera singers