Patricia Leonard

Patricia Leonard (9 March 1936 – 28 January 2010) was an English mezzo-soprano and contralto best known for her work in the Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. Born in Stoke-on-Trent and raised in Stourbridge, Worcester, she studied piano as a child and received voice training from bass-baritone John Dethick in Sheffield. She later enrolled at the Birmingham School of Music to pursue her vocal studies more seriously, and among her early competitive achievements was winning the Rose Bowl at the Blackpool Music Festival at the age of twenty.

Before committing fully to a performing career, Leonard worked as a secretary, during which time she sang with an amateur operatic society. It was through that society that she met bass-baritone Michael Fox, who later performed under the stage name Michael Buchan and became her husband. She launched her professional career as an oratorio soloist and recitalist for BBC Radio, and also performed with the Midland Music Makers Grand Opera Society in roles including Conchakovna in Prince Igor. A two-year stint as a chorister with Sadler's Wells Opera followed, after which she and her husband joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1972.

At D'Oyly Carte, Leonard advanced steadily from the chorus to small principal roles. By 1973 she had been assigned Leila in Iolanthe, Peep-Bo in The Mikado, Vittoria in The Gondoliers, Cousin Hebe in H.M.S. Pinafore, Edith and Lady Saphir in Patience, and she served as understudy for Mrs. Partlett in The Sorcerer and Tessa in The Gondoliers. She was also chosen as a regular standby for Edith in The Pirates of Penzance. In 1975, during the D'Oyly Carte Centenary season, she added Elsa in The Grand Duke and Mad Margaret in Ruddigore to her repertory, and began understudying the title role in Iolanthe and Phoebe Meryll in The Yeomen of the Guard. The Times described her portrayal of Mad Margaret as "variously poignant or histrionic ... yet infused with a sensual quality."

In 1977, Leonard played Hebe in the Royal Command Performance of H.M.S. Pinafore at Windsor Castle, staged to mark Queen Elizabeth's Silver Jubilee, with her husband performing the role of the Carpenter's Mate. That same year she was promoted to principal contralto of the company, a position she held until D'Oyly Carte closed in 1982. In that capacity she performed ten leading contralto roles: Lady Sangazure in The Sorcerer, Little Buttercup in H.M.S. Pinafore, Ruth in The Pirates of Penzance, Lady Jane in Patience, the Fairy Queen in Iolanthe, Lady Blanche in Princess Ida, Katisha in The Mikado, Dame Hannah in Ruddigore, Dame Carruthers in The Yeomen of the Guard, and the Duchess of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers. The Times observed that in these roles Leonard avoided "the more bizarre traits of these intimidating females in favour of a more balanced personification," noting that as Katisha she "convincingly demonstrated that the grotesque mask hid a fragile suffering woman," and that her Fairy Queen "betrayed in tantalising moments the character's repressed sensuality." Musical director David Steadman wrote that audiences "felt the despair of Ruth losing Frederic's attentions in Pirates" and "could easily believe that her Buttercup adored Captain Corcoran in the moonlit stillness of Act Two of H.M.S. Pinafore."

Leonard's Broadway appearances included H.M.S. Pinafore and The Hot Mikado, with her Broadway credits dating to 1976. Her D'Oyly Carte recordings include Leila in Iolanthe (1973), Elsa in The Grand Duke (1976), and Dame Carruthers in Yeomen of the Guard (1979), and she is a soloist on the company's "Last Night" recording from 1982. She appeared in the D'Oyly Carte film of H.M.S. Pinafore, made in 1973 at ATV Elstree Studios, and in the 1982 concert video Gilbert and Sullivan's Greatest Hits, filmed at the Royal Albert Hall.

Following the closure of D'Oyly Carte, Leonard continued performing Gilbert and Sullivan with numerous companies, including New Sadler's Wells Opera, where she sang Katisha in The Mikado, and Phoenix Opera at Gawsworth Hall across seven seasons in the principal contralto roles. She also performed Katisha, Buttercup, and Ruth in Norway, sang with Gilbert and Sullivan for All, and appeared frequently with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, including the 2005–2006 Carl Rosa tour of North America. Reviewing her Katisha in 2005, Peter Lathan wrote in The British Theatre Guide that she was "great: hard (indeed scary) exterior but with a softness underneath which was quite appealing."

Her concert work in later years ranged across oratorio, opera, operetta, musical theatre, and music hall, with performances at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican Arts Centre, Symphony Hall Birmingham, and St. David's Hall in Cardiff. She took part in a series of Proms evenings with the National Concert Orchestra and sang on world cruises for Cunard. She also appeared in BBC broadcasts, plays, films, and commercials until approximately 2008, and gave singing lessons. Leonard held the position of Vice-President of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society, and she and her husband participated in multiple productions at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, touring together in Britain, America, Australia, and New Zealand. She is noted for her interpretation of Stephen Sondheim's songs, with "Losing My Mind" cited as a particular speciality.

In her personal life, Leonard and Buchan had a son, Andrew, and she had a stepdaughter, Katie, and one granddaughter, Shannon. The couple lived in later years in Clunton, Shropshire, and at various times owned several hostelries. Leonard died of throat cancer on 28 January 2010, aged 73, at the Severn Hospice, Bicton Heath, Shrewsbury. Her ashes rest at the Emstrey Crematorium in Shrewsbury.