Joan Ingpen

Joan Mary Eileen Ingpen (3 January 1916 – 29 December 2007) was a classical music and opera talent manager and agent. Ingpen is credited with launching the career of opera singer Luciano Pavarotti. She also served as the former artistic administrator of the Royal Opera House in London.

She was born in London in 1916. She enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music and studied piano. However, she initially decided to pursue a career as an insurance agent. She became acquainted with the classical music industry by attending a large number of concerts. Through her concert contacts, she was offered a job with the Entertainments National Service Association, a United Kingdom World War II era agency that provided entertainment to British military servicemen.

Following the end of World War II, Ingpen established her own classical music talent management agency, Ingpen & Williams in 1946. The Ingpen & Williams agency was named for herself and her pet dachshund, Williams, whom she considered to be co-founders of the agency Her early clients during the 1950s included conductors Sir Georg Solti, Geraint Evans and Rudolf Kempe, as well as Joan Sutherland. She was keen to cast British singers, including David Ward, William McCue and William McAlpine.