Anne Diack
Members of the society were deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Anne Diack last November following a two-year battle with myeloma.
Anne’s formative years were in Elgin where music became and remained a major part of her life. She learned to play piano, guitar, and ‘cello and developed her singing voice, performing in the regional schools choirs, orchestra, other instrumental groups and the local folk club as well as winning several singing competitions whilst at school.
Anne then studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Scottish Conservatoire) graduating as a singing teacher in 1978, but a subsequent move to Edinburgh saw her take up an alternative career as a sound engineer for BBC Radio Scotland.
After RSAMD Anne continued performing in opera and choral works, establishing a reputation as an accomplished soprano, enjoying several years in Edinburgh’s Festival Chorus and John Currie’s Scottish Chorus at home and abroad, appearing in Mozart’s Magic Flute and Gluck’s Orfeo at the Perth Festival, with Eric Ibler’s ‘Schola Cantorum’ of Edinburgh, the Manchester-based ‘Cordial Company’, and was soloist in Vivaldi’s Gloria and Fauré’s Requiem and Mozart’s Requiem at Edinburgh’s Queen’s Hall and St Mary’s Cathedral respectively.
As well as opera, Anne began performing in music theatre productions in a variety of roles which went on to encompass pretty much all of the G&S soprano leads, as well as Michaela in Carmen, 1st Witch in Dido and Aeneas, and Despina and Susanna in Mozart’s Cosi fan Tutte and The Marriage of Figaro and favourite roles including Magnolia in Showboat, Helene in La belle Hélène, Adele and Rosalinda in Die Fledermaus/Pink Champagne, Sarah in Guys and Dolls, Tuptim in The King and I, Antonia in Man of La Mancha, Solange/Heidi in Follies and Rebecca in Rags which she also produced and directed, Madame Dubonnet in The Boyfriend and the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music – a role she enjoyed immensely, having sung songs from it as a child, using her parents’ sofa as her mountain to climb, and Anna Glawari in The Merry Widow, her first part with DGASS in 1996. Anne was very fond of the company and returned to play the roles of Mabel, Casilda, Katisha and Ruth in subsequent years.
Anne also co-formed “Strictly Songtime” together with partner Greig Hill, performing regularly for The Council for Music in Hospitals, taking entertainment to those confined to hospitals, hospices and nursing homes throughout Scotland for many years, and staging concerts at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for fifteen consecutive years.
After her time with the BBC, for many years Anne taught singing privately in Edinburgh and Dunfermline, to students of all ages, supporting them through exams and encouraging by example and by attending many of their performances. Several students were G&S members, and Anne also introduced many young pupils to Gilbert and Sullivan, thereby providing the company with some of its more youthful members!
Offstage and when not teaching, Anne had a passion for gardening, and was never happier than when tending to her own garden or visiting beautiful gardens throughout the UK and abroad. She loved sharing the company of friends, was a gregarious host with a wicked sense of humour, a dry wit and a raucous, infectious laugh. A funny, caring, intelligent, talented and loving soul, Anne will be sorely missed by all who knew her.
A tribute written by Greig Hill and Suzy Burnett after Anne’s death on 10 November 2024
A shortened version appears in the programme for The Jury’s Out.