Yvonne Kenny when she replaced, with only four days' notice, the soprano scheduled to sing in an Opera Rara concert performance of Donizetti's "Rosmonda d'Inghilterra" at the Queen Elizabeth Hall. It was a triumph and the virtually unknown Kenny became an overnight star. She made her debut at the Royal Opera House the following year, in the premiere of Hans Werner Henze's "We Come to the River", later singing in Handel operas such as: "Semele", "Alcina", "Giulio Cesare", and such Mozart operas as: "Idomeneo", "Mitridate, re di Ponto", "La clemenza di Tito", "The Abduction from the Seraglio", "The Magic Flute". She also
Donald Shanks (bass-baritone) "Norma" with Dame Joan Sutherland, "La bohème" with Luciano Pavarotti, and Banquo in "Macbeth" with Sherrill Milnes. Other roles he became associated with were Zaccharia in "Nabucco", Rocco in "Fidelio", Osmin in "The Abduction from the Seraglio", Boris in "Boris Godunov", Timur in "Turandot", Ramphis in "Aida", Pistol in "Falstaff", Kekal in "The Bartered Bride", Baron Ochs in "Der Rosenkavalier", Nourabad in "The Pearl Fishers", the Commendatore in "Don Giovanni", and a major role in Leoš Janáček's "The Cunning Little Vixen". He created the role of The Maestro in Alan John's 1995 opera "The Eighth Wonder" at the Sydney Opera