Joan Carlyle (6 April 1931 – 31 October 2021) was a Welsh operatic soprano singer.[1] She was born in Upton on the Wirral, Cheshire.[1] After auditioning for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, she was put under contract by the musical director Rafael Kubelík and made her debut in 1955, appearing also under him in The Magic Flute in 1956[2] and as Ascagne in Les Troyens.
She became one of the principal English-speaking singers who emerged at Covent Garden in the 1950s becoming an established member of the Covent Garden Opera Company. The conductor Rudolf Kempe was a powerful influence and nurtured her career. It was with him that she had her first successes in the 1958–59 season as Sophie in Luchino Visconti's production of Der Rosenkavalier , and then as Micaela in Carmen.
Under a series of distinguished conductors, Carlyle sang throughout Europe and beyond, making her US debut in March 1963 in the Brahms's A German Requiem with Erich Leinsdorf.