# Tessa Bonner

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{{Short description|British soprano (1951–2008)}}
{{use dmy dates|date=February 2026}}
{{use British English|date=February 2026}}
{{Infobox person
| name   = Tessa Bonner
| image     =File:Tessa Bonner (1951-2008).png
| image_size     =  
| caption  =  Bonner from a 1985 newspaper
| birth_name = Teresa Margaret Pollard
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|1951|02|28|df=y}} 
| birth_place      = [Hammersmith](/source/Hammersmith), London
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|2008|12|31|1951|02|28|df=y}}
| death_place      = [Sydenham, London](/source/Sydenham%2C_London)
| education = [University of Leeds](/source/University_of_Leeds) <br /> [Guildhall School of Music and Drama](/source/Guildhall_School_of_Music_and_Drama)
| partners = Dyl Bonner (m. 1972, div. 1980) <br /> Graeme Curry (m. 1986, div. 1999) <br /> Donald Greig
| children = 1
| occupation                = Classical [soprano](/source/soprano) in {{hlist | [Early music](/source/Early_music) | [Renaissance music](/source/Renaissance_music) | [Baroque music](/source/Baroque_music) | [opera](/source/opera) }}
| years_active              = 1979-2008
}}

'''Tessa Bonner''' (28 February 1951 - 31 December 2008) was a soprano, specialising in repertoire of the Renaissance, Baroque and Classical eras. She sang with [The Tallis Scholars](/source/The_Tallis_Scholars) for 25 years, with whom she recorded 37 albums and performed in 1,100 concerts.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jan/12/tessa-bonner-obituary |title=Tessa Bonner |author=Andrew Parrott  |website= theguardian.com |date= 2009-01-12 |access-date=2024-07-01}}</ref> Bonner co-founded [Musica Secreta](/source/Musica_Secreta), an ensemble specialising in performing the music of [17th century female composers](/source/List_of_women_composers_by_birth_date).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/tessa-bonner-soprano-who-sang-with-the-tallis-scholars-for-more-than-25-years-1488588.html  |title=Tessa Bonner: Soprano who sang with the Tallis Scholars for more than 25 years |author=Anna Picard  |website= independent.co.uk |date= 2009-01-22 |access-date=2024-07-01}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Bonner was born in [Hammersmith](/source/Hammersmith), London to Ron Pollard and Margaret née Good.  She grew up in [Fulham](/source/Fulham) and [Hounslow](/source/Hounslow) and attended [Isleworth Green School for Girls](/source/The_Green_School_for_Girls). She was a junior exhibitioner at the [London College of Music](/source/London_College_of_Music) where she showed promise as a pianist and clarinettist.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/tessa-bonner-soprano-who-sang-with-the-tallis-scholars-for-more-than-25-years-1488588.html  |title=Tessa Bonner: Soprano who sang with the Tallis Scholars for more than 25 years |author=Anna Picard  |website= independent.co.uk |date= 2009-01-22 |access-date=2024-07-01}}</ref> After leaving school, Bonner worked as a production assistant at the [BBC](/source/BBC) on programmes including ''[Blue Peter](/source/Blue_Peter)'' and ''[Face the Music](/source/Face_the_Music_(British_game_show))''.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jan/12/tessa-bonner-obituary |title=Tessa Bonner |author=Andrew Parrott  |website= theguardian.com |date= 2009-01-12 |access-date=2024-07-01}}</ref> At 25 she attended the [University of Leeds](/source/University_of_Leeds), where she studied voice under [Honor Sheppard](/source/Honor_Sheppard), continuing her studies as a prize-winning student<ref>{{cite news |date=1985-05-09 |work=Market Harborough Advertiser and Midland Mail |author=<!--Not stated-->   |title=Young soloists at choral event |url= https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0005210/19850509/357/0030 |page=30 |location=Market Harborough, UK }}</ref> of [Margaret Lensky](/source/Margaret_Rizza) and Ellis Keeler at the [Guildhall School of Music and Drama](/source/Guildhall_School_of_Music_and_Drama) in 1979.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jan/12/tessa-bonner-obituary |title=Tessa Bonner |author=Andrew Parrott  |website= theguardian.com |date= 2009-01-12 |access-date=2024-07-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/tessa-bonner-soprano-who-sang-with-the-tallis-scholars-for-more-than-25-years-1488588.html  |title=Tessa Bonner: Soprano who sang with the Tallis Scholars for more than 25 years |author=Anna Picard  |website= independent.co.uk |date= 2009-01-22 |access-date=2024-07-01}}</ref>

==Singing career==
[Peter Phillips](/source/Peter_Phillips_(conductor)), director of the Tallis Scholars, described her as "one of the seminal sopranos of the early music movement."<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/tessa-bonner-versatile-soprano-and-soloist-8j0v3zpp7px  |title=Tessa Bonner: Versatile soprano and soloist |author=Peter Phillips  |website= thetimes.com |date= 2009-01-15 |access-date=2024-07-01}}</ref> Prof. Richard Rastall suggested that Bonner, together with another Tallis Scholars soprano [Caroline Trevor](/source/Caroline_Trevor) "may well approximate to the sound of a good sixteenth-century boy in his late teens."<ref>{{cite book |date=2016 |last=Rastall |first=Richard |title=Music in early English religious drama |publisher=D S Brewer |location=Suffolk, England |page=316 |ISBN=  9780859914284}}</ref>

===Ensembles===
In 1979 Bonner was offered her first professional singing engagement by [Andrew Parrott](/source/Andrew_Parrott) with the [Taverner Choir](/source/Taverner_Consort_and_Players). She would go on to sing with [The Tallis Scholars](/source/The_Tallis_Scholars), the [New London Consort](/source/New_London_Consort), [The Sixteen](/source/The_Sixteen), the Lute Group, the [Gabrieli Consort](/source/Gabrieli_Consort), [Collegium Musicum 90](/source/Collegium_Musicum_90), [The King's Consort](/source/The_King's_Consort), [Academy of Ancient Music](/source/Academy_of_Ancient_Music), St James' Baroque, [Consort of Musicke](/source/Consort_of_Musicke),  [His Majestys Sagbutts & Cornetts](/source/His_Majestys_Sagbutts_%26_Cornetts), [Collegium Vocale Gent](/source/Collegium_Vocale_Gent) and [London Mozart Players](/source/London_Mozart_Players).<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2009/jan/12/tessa-bonner-obituary |title=Tessa Bonner |author=Andrew Parrott  |website= theguardian.com |date= 2009-01-12 |access-date=2024-07-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/tessa-bonner-soprano-who-sang-with-the-tallis-scholars-for-more-than-25-years-1488588.html  |title=Tessa Bonner: Soprano who sang with the Tallis Scholars for more than 25 years |author=Anna Picard  |website= independent.co.uk |date= 2009-01-22 |access-date=2024-07-01}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/4317619/Tessa-Bonner.html |author=<!--Not stated-->   |title=Tessa Bonner |website= telegraph.co.uk |date= 2009-01-22 |access-date=2024-07-01}}</ref>

===Soloist===
As a soloist she recorded many albums, including:
{| class="wikitable sortable" 
! scope="col" | Year
! scope="col" | Composer/s
! scope="col" | Title / Work 
! scope="col" | Ensemble
|-
| 1983
| Monteverdi
| ''Vespro Della Beata Vergine 1610''
| Taverner Consort and Players
|-
| 1986
| [Grabbe](/source/Johann_Grabbe)
| ''Il Primo Libro de Madrigali''
| The Consort of Musicke
|-
| 1987
| Anonymous
| ''[Carmina Burana](/source/Carmina_Burana_(Orff))''
| New London Consort
|-
| rowspan="3"|1988
| Purcell
| ''Royal and Ceremonial Odes''
| The King's Consort
|-
| Caccini etc.
| ''Una "Stravaganza" dei Medici''
| Taverner Consort and Players
|-
| 
| ''Music from the time of Christian IV: Church Music at Court and In Town''
| The Hilliard Ensemble
|-
| rowspan="2"|1990
| Monteverdi
| ''Vespro Della Beata Vergine 1610''
| New London Consort
|-
| Mozart
| ''[Die Zauberflöte](/source/The_Magic_Flute)''
| [Roger Norrington](/source/Roger_Norrington)
|-
| rowspan="2"|1991
| Vivaldi, J S Bach
| ''Gloria; Ostro Picta; Magnificat''
| [Collegium Musicum 90](/source/Collegium_Musicum_90)
|-
| J S Bach
| ''[Johannes-Passion](/source/St_John_Passion)''
| Taverner Consort and Players
|-
| rowspan="2"|1992
| Gibbons
| ''Songs and Anthems''
| Rose Consort of Viols with Red Byrd
|-
| Purcell
| ''Complete Odes and Welcome Song's''
| The King's Consort
|-
| 1993
| Monteverdi
| ''[L'Orfeo](/source/L'Orfeo)''
| New London Consort
|-
| rowspan="3"|1994
| Byrd
| ''Songs and Anthems''
| Rose Consort of Viol with Red Byrd
|-
| [Biber](/source/Heinrich_Ignaz_Franz_Biber)
| ''Requiem''
| New London Consort
|-
| [Praetorius](/source/Michael_Praetorius)
| ''Christmas Mass''
| Gabrieli Consort and Players
|-
| rowspan="3"|1995
| Purcell
| ''The Indian Queen''
| The Purcell Simfony
|-
| Tye, Byrd etc.
| ''La Renaissance Anglaise''
| Red Byrd
|-
| Monteverdi
| ''Ballo delle ingrate''
| New London Consort
|-
| 2006
| Monteverdi
| ''Monteverdi Vespers''
| Gabrieli Consort
|}

==Musica Secreta==
Together with Deborah Roberts, Mary Nichols and John Toll, Bonner co-founded [Musica Secreta](/source/Musica_Secreta) in 1991. They recorded the music of neglected female composers, including [Francesca Caccini](/source/Francesca_Caccini) and [Barbara Strozzi](/source/Barbara_Strozzi).

==Alternative music==
Bonner appeared in the choir on [Cradle of Filth](/source/Cradle_of_Filth)'s 2004 album ''Nymphetamine''.

==Death==
Bonner was diagnosed with [oral cancer](/source/oral_cancer) in January 2008. She returned to work in May of the same year and sang her final concert with the Tallis Scholars on 27 November 2008, dying on New Year's Eve.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/tessa-bonner-soprano-who-sang-with-the-tallis-scholars-for-more-than-25-years-1488588.html  |title=Tessa Bonner: Soprano who sang with the Tallis Scholars for more than 25 years |author=Anna Picard  |website= independent.co.uk |date= 2009-01-22 |access-date=2024-07-01}}</ref> Her long-term partner Donald Greig dedicated his 2012 book ''Time Will Tell'' to Bonner.<ref>{{cite book |date=2012 |last=Greig |first=Donald |title=Time will tell |publisher=Thames River Press |location=London, England |page=197 |ISBN=  9780857286246}}</ref> [Penelope Shuttle](/source/Penelope_Shuttle) dedicated a poem ''Under a sixty-year old crab tree'' to Bonner in her 2016 poetry collection ''Heath''.<ref>{{cite book |date=2016 |last=Shuttle |first=Penelope |title=Heath |publisher=Nine Arches |location=Rugby, England |page=52 |ISBN=  9781911027065}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Portal|Biography}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonner, Tessa}}
Category:1951 births
Category:2008 deaths
Category:British sopranos
Category:English classical singers
Category:British performers of early music
Category:Women performers of early music
Category:20th-century English women singers
Category:20th-century English singers
Category:21st-century English women singers
Category:21st-century English singers
Category:Singers with The Tallis Scholars
Category:Alumni of the University of Leeds
Category:Alumni of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Tessa Bonner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessa_Bonner) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tessa_Bonner?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.