Amanda Juliet Warren was born in London, She first worked as a freelance pianist and accompanist, teacher at the Guildhall School, and therapist from 1973 to 1986. Holden prepared the "deft" narration for a concert performance of Weber's
Der Freischütz presented by the
London Symphony Orchestra at the
Barbican Centre in April 2012. She translated Gluck's
Orpheus and Eurydice for the St. Louis Opera in 2018,
Pascal Dusapin's
Passion for its UK premiere at the
Music Theatre Wales in 2018, and
Hans Abrahamsen's
The Snow Queen for Munich in 2019. She wrote the libretto for
Mark-Anthony Turnage's
The Silver Tassie, which premiered at the ENO in 2000, and for which Holden and Turnage jointly received the
Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera in 2001. Her works included: • Amanda Holden (ed.):
The Penguin Concise Guide to Opera. Penguin, reprinted 2005. • Amanda Holden (ed.):
The New Penguin Opera Guide. Penguin 2001. (Reprinted in paperback 2003) • Amanda Holden (ed.):
The Penguin Opera Guide. Penguin 1995. (Reprinted in paperback 1997) • Amanda Holden,
Nicholas Kenyon and
Stephen Walsh (eds.):
The Viking Opera Guide. (with CD-ROM) 1993
Personal life Holden married writer and broadcaster
Anthony Holden in 1971. They had three sons and divorced in 1988. She died on 7 September 2021, at the age of 73. == References ==