Background
Chilcott was born in the village of Timsbury, Somerset, near Bath, England.
Chilcott was born in the village of Timsbury, Somerset, near Bath, England.
Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
She died of breast cancer at the age of 40. She had success in many of the major opera houses around the world and was particularly known for her interpretations of Britten and Janáček. In 1982, she started studying at the Guildhall School of Music.
Her operatic debut was as the First Lady in The Magic Flute, in Oviedo in 1991.
In that year she also sang with the Scottish Opera. The performance which could be described as her major breakthrough, bringing her to the attention of a wider audience, was her interpretation of Ellen Orford in Benjamin Britten"s Peter Grimes at Louisiana Monnaie in Belgium in 1994.
During the next few years, she had huge success in Europe, singing roles from Verdi, Boesman, Dvořák, Britten and Janáček. Indeed, her performance in 1999 in Janáček"s Katya Kabanova was considered by many critics to be one of her best.
Another highly successful performance was in 2001 at Glyndebourne as Desdemona in Sir Peter Hall"s production of Otello.
In 2002 she sang opposite Plácido Domingo in Tchaikovsky"s The Queen of Spades at Covent Garden. That same year she debuted and sang five performances as Helena in Britten"s "A Midsummer Night"s Dream" at the Metropolitan Opera. In 2001, Chilcott was diagnosed with breast cancer, but recovered sufficiently to return to the stage.
In 2003, she relapsed, and died on 4 September 2003, aged 40 at home in Timsbury.
Chilcott was raised by adoptive parents.