McNair, Sylvia (1956– )

US soprano. She studied at Indiana University and made her debut singing in Messiah in 1980. She sang Sandrina in Haydn's L'infedeltà delusa at New York (in 1982) and created the title role in Kelterborn's Ophelia at Schwetzingen (in 1984). Other roles have included Pamina at Santa Fe, the Deutsche Oper, Berlin and the Vienna Staatsoper; Morgana in Alcina at St Louis; Anne Trulove (her Glyndebourne debut role, in 1989); Ilia (her debut role at Salzburg and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London (both in 1990); Marzellina in Fidelio (Metropolitan Opera House, New York, 1991); Poppea (Salzburg, 1993). She has undertaken many concerts with John Eliot Gardiner, Simon Rattle, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt.