Emelie Victoria Georgina Hooke (24 September 1912 – 9 April 1974)[1] was an Australian soprano who was notable in opera, oratorio and concert, and sang in Australia, England, Europe and South Africa.
[2] In 1931 and 1932 she sang in Handel's Messiah with the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic; the latter performance was with John Brownlee, the orchestra being conducted by Bernard Heinze.
[8][9][10] She sang in Italy and at the Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb, Yugoslavia, in 1938/39,[9][10] and was noted as Verdi's Aida and Mimì in Puccini's La bohème.
[13] On 5 November 1947, she sang alongside Kathleen Ferrier and Heddle Nash in Handel's oratorio Israel in Egypt, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Sargent.
[14] On 13 February 1944 she participated with Peter Pears and the pianist Walter Susskind in the UK premiere of Leoš Janáček's song cycle The Diary of One Who Disappeared.
[2][9][10] In 1947, she and Joan Cross (the creator of the role) alternated as the Female Chorus in Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia at the Glyndebourne Festival.
[25] On 19 October 1953, she sang Gerhilde in Wagner's Die Walküre at Covent Garden under the conductor Fritz Stiedry, other roles being sung by Ramón Vinay, Sylvia Fisher, Hans Hotter, Edith Coates, Joan Sutherland and Monica Sinclair.
[27] Humphrey Searle wrote three settings of poems by Jocelyn Brooke, which Hooke performed at the Festival of Twentieth Century Music in Rome in April 1954.
[19][28] On 17 June 1954, she created a role in the world premiere of Lennox Berkeley's opera A Dinner Engagement, at the Jubilee Hall Aldeburgh, with April Cantelo, Alexander Young and other singers, under conductor Vilém Tauský.