Jane Rhodes

Jane Marie Andrée Rhodes (March 13, 1929 – May 7, 2011) was a French opera singer whose voice encompassed both the soprano and high mezzo-soprano ranges. Her most celebrated role was Carmen, which she sang in the opera's first ever staging at the Palais Garnier. She also created the roles of Isadora in Marcel Landowski's Le Fou and Maguelone in Georges Delerue's Le Chevalier de Neige and sang Renata in the first recorded performance of Prokofiev's The Fiery Angel. Admired for both her voice and her glamorous stage presence, she was nicknamed the "Bardot of the Opéra".[1] She was married to conductor Roberto Benzi.[2]

Jane Rhodes as Carmen at the New York Metropolitan Opera, 1960