Cancer claims top soprano

NEW YORK (Classic music online magazine) - Opera singer Susan Chilcott, one of Britain's leading sopranos, has died from breast cancer, aged 40. She died at her home in Timsbury, near Bath, her family said.

Miss Chilcott made her Royal Opera House debut in Covent Garden in June 2003 to enthusiastic reviews, playing Lisa in Tchaikovsky's Queen of Spades opposite Placido Domingo.

Critics variously called her performance as "glorious", "radiant" and "outstanding". One said she was "a natural - tall, beautiful and seemingly fearless on stage".
She made headlines when a candle set her dress alight mid-performance and she calmly carried on singing after staff had put out the flames.

Miss Chilcott started singing lessons at the age of six and became a child chorister. Since making her operatic debut with Scottish Opera, she had appeared at Glyndebourne and sung with the English National Opera, the Welsh National Opera and Opera North.
Her first foreign appearance was at the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels in 1994, and she went on to perform throughout Europe.

Miss Chilcott was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2000 and underwent surgery followed by chemotherapy. In the midst of her treatment she sang with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican, later describing the performance as "probably the most important in my career".
Her last public appearance was at a Shakespeare evening in Brussels three months ago.

Miss Chilcott was married to her agent, David Sigall, and had a four-year-old son by a previous relationship.