Alan Opie

Alan Opie OBE (born 22 March 1945 in Redruth, Cornwall, England) is an English baritone, primarily known as an opera singer.[1]

Education

He attended Truro School and went to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University as a choral student in 1963. He also studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the London Opera Centre before joining the Sadler's Wells Opera (now the English National Opera, ENO). He became a Principal baritone there while still a student.[2]

Opera career

Opie has also sung with the other major UK opera companies Scottish Opera, Opera North, Glyndebourne Festival Opera and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Internationally, he has performed in the opera houses of Paris, Amsterdam, Vienna, Brussels, Berlin, Chicago and Santa Fe and regularly appears at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. He has also sung at the Bayreuth Festival. In 1996, Opie switched his status at the ENO from company member to regular guest, enabling him to make his début at La Scala, Milan. There he created the role of Outis in the opera of the same name by Luciano Berio.

In March 2017, he performed the role of Arbace in Mozart's Idomeneo at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.

He has recorded for CBS, EMI, Hyperion, Chandos and Decca, winning Grammy Awards in 1996 and 1998 for his involvement in, respectively, recordings of Britten's Peter Grimes and Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

Awards

In 1997, his performance in the title role of Verdi's Falstaff earned Opie a nomination for the 1998 Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera. He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to music.[3][4]

Personal life

Opie and his wife Kathleen (married since 1970) have a son and a daughter.

Operatic roles

Performed and/or recorded, listed alphabetically:

RoleOperaComposer
Aristæus IThe Mask of OrpheusBirtwistle
variousDeath in VeniceBritten
BalstrodePeter GrimesBritten
BeckmesserDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg   Wagner
Chairman MaoMadame MaoBright Sheng
Don AlfonsoCosì fan tutteMozart
Don CarloErnaniVerdi
DiomedeTroilus and CressidaWalton
Eisenstein, FalkeDie FledermausJohann Strauss II   
EnricoLucia di LammermoorDonizetti
Falstaff, FordFalstaffVerdi
FaninalDer RosenkavalierRichard Strauss
FaraoneMosè in EgittoRossini
FaustDoktor FaustBusoni
FieramoscaBenvenuto CelliniBerlioz
FigaroIl Barbiere di SivigliaRossini
ForesterThe Cunning Little VixenJanáček
GermontLa TraviataVerdi
MalatestaDon PasqualeDonizetti
MarcelloLa BohèmePuccini
Marquis de la Force   Dialogues of the CarmelitesPoulenc
MelitoneLa Forza del DestinoVerdi
MillerLuisa MillerVerdi
MontanoOtelloVerdi
NabuccoNabuccoVerdi
OutisOutisBerio
PapagenoDie ZauberflöteMozart
PaoloSimon BoccanegraVerdi
RigolettoRigolettoVerdi
Sancho PanzaDon QuichotteMassenet
SharplessMadam ButterflyPuccini
SidAlbert HerringBritten
SmirnovThe BearWalton
Der SpielmannKönigskinderHumperdinck
StivaAnna KareninaHamilton
TaddeoL'Italiana in AlgeriRossini
TonioPagliacciLeoncavallo
UlisseUlisseDallapiccola
ValentinFaustGounod

Selected concert works

(performed and/or recorded, listed alphabetically)

WorkComposer
Ein Deutsches Requiem   Brahms
Das Klagende LiedMahler
ElijahMendelssohn
EzioHandel
Hugh the DroverVaughan Williams   
Oedipus RexStravinsky
RequiemFauré
The Dream of GerontiusElgar
Ultima RerumGerard Victory

Selected discography

Grammy Award-winning recordings in bold.

YearWork/sComposer/sArtistsLabel
1991OtelloVerdiChicago Symphony Orchestra et al.
cond. Sir Georg Solti
Decca
1993BethlehemBoughtonCity of London Sinfonia et al.
cond. Alan Melville
Hyperion
1994Hugh the DroverVaughan Williams  Corydon Orchestra and Singers et al.
cond. Matthew Best
Hyperion
1996Peter GrimesBrittenCity of London Sinfonia et al.
cond. Richard Hickox
Chandos
1997  Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg  WagnerChicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus  
cond. Sir Georg Solti
Decca
1998PagliacciLeoncavalloLondon Philharmonic Orchestra et al.
cond. David Parry
Chandos
2000The Barber of SevilleRossiniENO Orchestra and Chorus
cond. Gabriele Bellini
Chandos
(recorded 1994)
RigolettoVerdiENO Orchestra and Chorus
cond. Mark Elder
Chandos
2002Death in VeniceBrittenLondon Sinfonietta
cond. Graeme Jenkins
Kultur DVD
2003Peter GrimesBrittenENO Orchestra and Chorus
cond. David Atherton
Kultur DVD
Classical BrubeckDave BrubeckDave Brubeck Quartet et al.Telarc
2004Alan Opie sings Bel Canto AriasvariousChandos

References

  1. Adam, Nicky (ed) (1993). Who's Who in British Opera. Aldershot: Scolar Press. p. 212. ISBN 0-85967-894-6.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  2. "Thoroughly Impressed" (PDF). Sdo.media.s3.amazonaws.com. Retrieved 19 August 2020.
  3. Notice of OBE award to Alan Opie, bbc.co.uk; accessed 15 March 2014.
  4. "No. 60534". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 June 2013. p. 12.

Sources

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