Sybil Gordon

Sybil Gordon was a British singer. She is best remembered for her performances in Gilbert and Sullivan roles with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company from 1926 to 1931. Gordon started out as a concert singer. After her career with the D'Oyly Carte company, she moved to Canada, where she broadcast on the radio. In the 1981 film Chariots of Fire, she is misidentified as the fiancée of Olympic runner Harold Abrahams.

Career

Early in her career, Gordon won first prize at the 1923 Blackpool Music Competition, judged by Sir Steuart Wilson. At this time, she was singing as a mezzo-soprano. The following year, as a soprano, she sang regularly in BBC broadcasts of songs by Walford Davies, Roger Quilter and others, and operatic arias by composers including Puccini and Massenet. She also performed in a series of concerts in Manchester. The critic Samuel Langford wrote of her, "Her voice has a decided freshness and purity, and her interpretations, though not greatly varied, have confidence, alertness and charm."