Lauris Margaret Elms AM OBE (born 20 October 1931) is an Australian retired contralto, renowned for her roles in opera and lieder and as a recording artist.
She was born in Springvale, Victoria,[1] the elder daughter of Harry Britton Elms and Jean (née Halford)[2] and trained with Katherine Wielaert in Melbourne.
[1] She appeared there in Elektra, Les Troyens, The Tales of Hoffmann, Dialogues of the Carmelites, Handel's Samson, Die Walküre, Lucia di Lammermoor, and Rigoletto.
She was much praised for her Arsace in Semiramide in 1965, Azucena (Verdi's Il trovatore) opposite Donald Smith and Elizabeth Fretwell and later with Kenneth Collins and Joan Sutherland in the Moshinsky/Nolan production.
In 1970 she sang in Verdi's Requiem with an all-Australian cast of soloists, at the Royal Festival Hall, London, conducted by Charles Mackerras, marking the 200th anniversary of James Cook's charting of the east coast of Australia.
Her principal roles were: Micah (Samson), Arsace (Semiramide), Amneris (Aida), Azucena (Il trovatore), Ulrica (Un ballo in maschera), Eboli (Don Carlos), the title role in Carmen, Frugola, Principessa, Zita, (Il trittico), Lucretia (The Rape of Lucretia), Mistress Quickly (Falstaff), Sesto (La clemenza di Tito), Caesar (Julius Caesar), Orpheus (Orpheus), Mrs Sedley (Peter Grimes), and Anna and Dido (Les Troyens), Bradamante (Alcina), and Judith Bluebeard's Castle, Delilah (Samson and Delilah), Fricka (Die Walküre), Erda (Siegfried), and the Ice Queen (Schwanda the Bagpiper).