Elyda RussellBarker (5 September 1872 – 17 June 1949), born Eliza Alison Russell, was an Australian mezzo-soprano singer based in Paris and London for much of her career. She was a student of Mathilde Marchesi.
Russell was born in Sydney, New South Wales,[1] the daughter of George Russell and Ellen Alison Russell. Her father co-owned an engineering firm with his brother, University of Sydney benefactor Peter Nicol Russell.[2][3] She played piano, and studied violin in Dresden in her youth, before training as a singer in Italy, and with Mathilde Marchesi in Paris.[4] She was considered a "favorite pupil" of Marchesi's, and was one of the "principal mourners" at Marchesi's funeral.[5]
Russell sang in many European cities, and for royal audiences.[4][6][7] She made her London debut recital at Bechstein Hall in 1903,[1] prompting the Sydney Morning Herald to report that "It is a long time since any debutante has received such unanimously favourable notices from the London dailies."[2] She sang again at Bechstein Hall in 1906,[8] and she performed at The Proms in London in 1908.[9] "Miss Russell's voice is a full mezzo soprano," noted a 1906 report, "and she sings in many languages."[10]Mark Twain heard her sing in Paris in 1904.[11] She toured in Scandinavia in 1908, and sang five concerts in Berlin.[12] Her friend, Swedish sculptor Ida Matton, made a portrait bust of Russell, now in the collection of the Länsmuseet Gävleborg.[13]
Personal life
Russell traveled in Italy with Ida Matton in 1904.[14] She married Harold E. W. Barker in 1919.[15] She died in 1949, aged 76 years, in Perth.[16] Her grave is in Karrakatta Cemetery.
