Opera Singer. A soprano, she is remembered for her long career in her country's principal venues. Raised in Nottingham, she was educated in local Convent schools, studied voice in London with baritone Roy Henderson, and at a master class given by soprano Lotte Lehmann so impressed the great Wagnerian that she was offered a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. When making her operatic debut, Rae 'started at the top', singing what was to be her signature piece, the Queen of the Night in a Sadlers Wells performance of Mozart's "The Magic Flute". Over the years she was to perform such roles as Venus in Wagner's "Tannhauser", the title lead of Richard Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos", Fiordiligi from Mozart's "Cosi fan Tutte", Mimi in Puccini's "La Boheme", a Flower Maiden from Wagner's "Parsifal", and Marianne of Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier". Rae also appeared in lesser-known works both old and new, her parts including Constanza of Handel's "Richard I", while she created Frau 111 in Gottfried von Einem's "The Visit of the Old Lady", and Eugenie from Nicholas Maw's "Rising of the Moon"; she was to make her Covent Garden bow as Lisa from Vincenzo Bellini's "La Sonnambula", on the occasion of her debut sharing the stage with Dame Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti. For many years a friend and associate of Benjamin Britten and Sir Peter Pears, she was a frequent contributor to their Aldeburgh Music Festival, often performing with Sir Peter and singing such Britten roles as Miss Jessel in "The Turn of the Screw", Lady Billows of the comedic "Albert Herring", and the Female Chorus from "The Rape of Lucretia". Rae gave acclaimed performances opposite Sir Peter as Elektra of Mozart's "Idomeneo", toured Russia with Britten's English Opera Group, was a regular at the Edinburgh and Glyndebourne Festivals, headlined at the BBC Proms, and was praised in Rome, Brussels, Geneva, and elsewhere. A noted concert and oratorio artist, she was a respected exponent of Mahler's Symphony #2, "The Resurrection", Handel's "Messiah", Verdi's "Manzoni Requiem", and other pieces; following her 1984 retirement from the stage she remained near Aldeburgh, teaching at the Britten-Pears Young Artist Program and serving as the third president of the Aldeburgh Music Club, after the two founders. A professor at the Royal Academy of Music, she was a sought after master class presenter and competition judge. Remaining active until well into advanced in years, she died of the sequelae of age leaving a considerable recorded legacy.