Gerald English
Encyclopedia
Gerald English is an English
-born Australia
n-resident tenor
. He has performed operatic and concert repertoire, is a recording artist, and has been an academic.
He has given many premiere performances of works by composers such as Igor Stravinsky
, Hans Werner Henze
, Benjamin Britten
, Michael Tippett
and Andrew Ford
, often under their own direction. He has also sung under the batons of Ernest Ansermet, Ralph Vaughan Williams
, Sir John Barbirolli
and Sir Thomas Beecham
. He has sung opera for the Glyndebourne Festival
, the Royal Opera
at Covent Garden
, La Scala
and in Sydney, Adelaide, Manchester, Edinburgh, Florence, Rome, Paris, Buenos Aires, Vienna, Barcelona, and Sadler's Wells. He has also performed in concert in America, Brussels, Rome, Cologne, Stockholm, Lisbon, Amsterdam, and Rio de Janeiro.
Gerald English was born in 1925. His father, a chemist, wanted him to be a mathematician. His family moved to France when he was two years old, and he lived in northern France for 14 years. In World War II he spent four years in military intelligence, where he spent much of his time listening to secret German communications from a base on the bleak Yorkshire moors. One of his colleagues during that time was the composer Peter Wishart
. He became a student at the Royal College of Music
. At age 25, he became a member of the St. Paul's Cathedral Choir and, shortly thereafter, the Deller Consort, where his continental upbringing proved of value in singing idiomatic French. During this time, he also began to build a reputation as a recitalist, gaining particular authority as an interpreter of the songs of Gabriel Fauré
.
He sang many opera performances in a wide-ranging repertory that covered several centuries. He was as comfortable and authentic in Monteverdi
as he was in the music of his own time. He has had many years of experience in music of the Elizabethan period. English's debut in opera took place with the English Opera Group
in 1956 when he sang the evil Peter Quint in Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw
under the composer’s direction. He also sang the role in Milan.
English received good notices for his interpretations in works by contemporary composers such as Tippett, Richard Rodney Bennett
(who had requested him for the title role in The Ledge), Stravinsky, Luigi Dallapiccola
, and Henze. He appeared at the Glyndebourne Festival 1962-1964, where he sang in Monteverdi’s L'incoronazione di Poppea
), and in 1963 at the Grand Opéra Paris (as Andres in Alban Berg
's Wozzeck
).
From 1960 to 1977, English was professor of music at the RCM, and tutor in singing at New College, Oxford. During 1968-1969 he was with others in Rio de Janeiro, Toronto, Brussels, Stockholm, Rome, Cologne, Amsterdam and Lisbon in a successful concert program, which included works from both the Baroque era, in particular of Johann Sebastian Bach
, and from the modern era.
In 1973, he was artist-in-residence for universities in Western Australia and New South Wales.
In 1977, he became Founding Director of the Opera Studio of the Victorian College of the Arts
in Melbourne
. He also supervised postgraduate vocal studies in baroque music and movement.
Gerald sang Leoš Janáček
’s song cycle The Diary of One Who Disappeared
as part of the 1992 Melbourne International Festival, and in the same year premiered Andrew Ford
’s Harbour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra
. Other highlights include the role of the story teller in Peter Tahourdin
’s Heloise and Abelard for the West Australian Opera
, Maurice Ravel
’s Chansons madécasses with the Australia Ensemble, performances of Peggy Glanville-Hicks
’ Letters from Morocco with the Hunter Orchestra and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
, and the soloist in scenes and interludes from György Ligeti
’s Le Grand Macabre
with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
.
In 1989 English was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music from the University of Sydney.
In 1993 he was awarded one of the prestigious Australian Creative Artists’ Fellowships. In 1995, he persuaded 13 Australian composers to each write a piece, to be showcased at the Gerald English Birthday Concert in honour of his 70th birthday. The composers who contributed included George Tibbits
, Peter Sculthorpe
and Ross Edwards
.
Premiere performances include Benjamin Britten’s Nocturne with Sir John Barbirolli
conducting the Hallé Orchestra
, Henze’s We Come to the River directed by the composer at Covent Garden, Dallapicolla’s Ulisse conducted by the composer in Rome, and Luciano Berio
’s Opera for the Florence Festival. He has also premiered 12 pieces by the Australian composer (and broadcaster), Andrew Ford. The one-man music-theatre piece Night and Dreams: the death of Sigmund Freud
was commissioned by the 2000 Adelaide Festival
.
Gerald English has made many recordings, including the complete works of Monteverdi. He has recorded cantatas by Telemann
, Handel
and Bach with the group Il Pastor Fido. Other composers he has recorded include Andrew Ford, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Vaughan Williams
(The Pilgrim's Progress
), Henry Purcell
(Te Deum), John Dowland
and Robert Schumann
.
Since 1978 he has lived in Australia.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
-born Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n-resident tenor
Tenor
The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C in choral music, and up to high C in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2...
. He has performed operatic and concert repertoire, is a recording artist, and has been an academic.
He has given many premiere performances of works by composers such as Igor Stravinsky
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
, Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...
, Benjamin Britten
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
, Michael Tippett
Michael Tippett
Sir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE was an English composer.In his long career he produced a large body of work, including five operas, three large-scale choral works, four symphonies, five string quartets, four piano sonatas, concertos and concertante works, song cycles and incidental music...
and Andrew Ford
Andrew Ford
Andrew Ford is an English and Australian composer, writer and radio presenter.He was Composer-in-residence with the Australian Chamber Orchestra , held the Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composer Fellowship from 1998 to 2000 and was awarded a two-year fellowship by the Music Board of the Australia Council...
, often under their own direction. He has also sung under the batons of Ernest Ansermet, Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
, Sir John Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
and Sir Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
. He has sung opera for the Glyndebourne Festival
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
, the Royal Opera
Royal Opera, London
The Royal Opera is an opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Covent Garden Opera Company, it was known by that title until 1968...
at Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
and in Sydney, Adelaide, Manchester, Edinburgh, Florence, Rome, Paris, Buenos Aires, Vienna, Barcelona, and Sadler's Wells. He has also performed in concert in America, Brussels, Rome, Cologne, Stockholm, Lisbon, Amsterdam, and Rio de Janeiro.
Gerald English was born in 1925. His father, a chemist, wanted him to be a mathematician. His family moved to France when he was two years old, and he lived in northern France for 14 years. In World War II he spent four years in military intelligence, where he spent much of his time listening to secret German communications from a base on the bleak Yorkshire moors. One of his colleagues during that time was the composer Peter Wishart
Peter Wishart (composer)
Peter Charles Arthur Wishart was an English composer. Wishart was born in Crowborough. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris from 1947-1948 and taught at the Guildhall School of Music, Birmingham University, King's College London and Reading University where he was Professor of Music from 1977...
. He became a student at the Royal College of Music
Royal College of Music
The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire founded by Royal Charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.-Background:The first director was Sir George Grove and he was followed by Sir Hubert Parry...
. At age 25, he became a member of the St. Paul's Cathedral Choir and, shortly thereafter, the Deller Consort, where his continental upbringing proved of value in singing idiomatic French. During this time, he also began to build a reputation as a recitalist, gaining particular authority as an interpreter of the songs of Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
.
He sang many opera performances in a wide-ranging repertory that covered several centuries. He was as comfortable and authentic in Monteverdi
Claudio Monteverdi
Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...
as he was in the music of his own time. He has had many years of experience in music of the Elizabethan period. English's debut in opera took place with the English Opera Group
English Opera Group
The English Opera Group was a small company of British musicians formed in 1947 by the composer Benjamin Britten for the purpose of presenting his and other, primarily British, composers' operatic works. The group later expanded in order to present larger-scale works, and was renamed the English...
in 1956 when he sang the evil Peter Quint in Benjamin Britten’s The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw
The Turn of the Screw is a novella written by Henry James. Originally published in 1898, it is ostensibly a ghost story.Due to its ambiguous content, it became a favourite text of academics who subscribe to New Criticism. The novella has had differing interpretations, often mutually exclusive...
under the composer’s direction. He also sang the role in Milan.
English received good notices for his interpretations in works by contemporary composers such as Tippett, Richard Rodney Bennett
Richard Rodney Bennett
Sir Richard Rodney Bennett, CBE is an English composer renowned for his film scores and his jazz performance as much as for his challenging concert works...
(who had requested him for the title role in The Ledge), Stravinsky, Luigi Dallapiccola
Luigi Dallapiccola
Luigi Dallapiccola was an Italian composer known for his lyrical twelve-tone compositions.-Biography:Dallapiccola was born at Pisino d'Istria , to Italian parents....
, and Henze. He appeared at the Glyndebourne Festival 1962-1964, where he sang in Monteverdi’s L'incoronazione di Poppea
L'incoronazione di Poppea
L'incoronazione di Poppea is an Italian baroque opera comprising a prologue and three acts, first performed in Venice during the 1642–43 carnival season. The music, attributed to Claudio Monteverdi, is a setting of a libretto by Giovanni Francesco Busenello...
), and in 1963 at the Grand Opéra Paris (as Andres in Alban Berg
Alban Berg
Alban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
's Wozzeck
Wozzeck
Wozzeck is the first opera by the Austrian composer Alban Berg. It was composed between 1914 and 1922 and first performed in 1925. The opera is based on the drama Woyzeck left incomplete by the German playwright Georg Büchner at his death. Berg attended the first production in Vienna of Büchner's...
).
From 1960 to 1977, English was professor of music at the RCM, and tutor in singing at New College, Oxford. During 1968-1969 he was with others in Rio de Janeiro, Toronto, Brussels, Stockholm, Rome, Cologne, Amsterdam and Lisbon in a successful concert program, which included works from both the Baroque era, in particular of Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, and from the modern era.
In 1973, he was artist-in-residence for universities in Western Australia and New South Wales.
In 1977, he became Founding Director of the Opera Studio of the Victorian College of the Arts
Victorian College of the Arts
The Faculty of the VCA and Music is a faculty of the University of Melbourne, in Victoria . VCAM is located near the Melbourne central business district, on two campuses, one - the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - on the Parkville campus of the University of Melbourne, and the other - the...
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. He also supervised postgraduate vocal studies in baroque music and movement.
Gerald sang Leoš Janáček
Leoš Janácek
Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
’s song cycle The Diary of One Who Disappeared
The Diary of One Who Disappeared
The Diary of One Who Disappeared is a song cycle for tenor, alto, three female voices and piano, written by Czech composer Leoš Janáček.- Background :...
as part of the 1992 Melbourne International Festival, and in the same year premiered Andrew Ford
Andrew Ford
Andrew Ford is an English and Australian composer, writer and radio presenter.He was Composer-in-residence with the Australian Chamber Orchestra , held the Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composer Fellowship from 1998 to 2000 and was awarded a two-year fellowship by the Music Board of the Australia Council...
’s Harbour with the Australian Chamber Orchestra
Australian Chamber Orchestra
The Australian Chamber Orchestra was founded by cellist John Painter in 1975. Richard Tognetti was appointed Lead Violin in 1989 and subsequently appointed Artistic Director....
. Other highlights include the role of the story teller in Peter Tahourdin
Peter Tahourdin
Peter Richard Tahourdin was an English-born Australian composer. His compositions range from orchestral and chamber music to choral and educational music, as well as music for the opera and ballet. However, his principal contribution was in the field of electronic music.-Early life and...
’s Heloise and Abelard for the West Australian Opera
West Australian Opera
West Australian Opera is the principal opera company of Western Australia and is based at His Majesty's Theatre in Perth.The company formed in 1967 and works in close association with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. As of 2008, the Chairman is Erich Fraunschiel and Artistic Director is...
, Maurice Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
’s Chansons madécasses with the Australia Ensemble, performances of Peggy Glanville-Hicks
Peggy Glanville-Hicks
Peggy Glanville-Hicks was an Australian composer.- Biography :Peggy Glanville-Hicks was born Melbourne in 1912. At age 15 she began studying composition with Fritz Hart in Melbourne...
’ Letters from Morocco with the Hunter Orchestra and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra
The Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. It is the smallest of the six orchestras established by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation .-Activities:...
, and the soloist in scenes and interludes from György Ligeti
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...
’s Le Grand Macabre
Le Grand Macabre
Le Grand Macabre is György Ligeti's only opera. The opera has two acts and its libretto – loosely based on the 1934 play, La Balade du grand macabre, by Michel De Ghelderode – was written by Ligeti in collaboration with Michael Meschke...
with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
Melbourne Symphony Orchestra
The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Melbourne, Australia. It has 100 permanent musicians. Melbourne has the longest continuous history of orchestral music of any Australian city and the MSO is the oldest professional orchestra in Australia...
.
In 1989 English was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Music from the University of Sydney.
In 1993 he was awarded one of the prestigious Australian Creative Artists’ Fellowships. In 1995, he persuaded 13 Australian composers to each write a piece, to be showcased at the Gerald English Birthday Concert in honour of his 70th birthday. The composers who contributed included George Tibbits
George Tibbits (composer)
George Richard Tibbits was an Australian composer and architect.Tibbits was born in Boulder, Western Australia, to a family of mining prospectors, and when his father returned wounded from the First World War, the family moved to Colac, Victoria, to take up dairying...
, Peter Sculthorpe
Peter Sculthorpe
Peter Joshua Sculthorpe AO OBE is an Australian composer. Much of his music has resulted from an interest in the music of Australia's neighbours as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of native Australian music with that of the heritage of the West...
and Ross Edwards
Ross Edwards (composer)
Ross Edwards is an Australian composer of a wide variety of music including orchestral and chamber music, choral music, children's music, opera and film music. He is not to be confused with a British up and coming singer-songwriter of the same name.-Life:Ross Edwards was born in Sydney...
.
Premiere performances include Benjamin Britten’s Nocturne with Sir John Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
conducting the Hallé Orchestra
The Hallé
The Hallé is a symphony orchestra based in Manchester, England. It is the UK's oldest extant symphony orchestra , supports a choir, youth choir and a youth orchestra, and releases its recordings on its own record label, though it has occasionally released recordings on Angel Records and EMI...
, Henze’s We Come to the River directed by the composer at Covent Garden, Dallapicolla’s Ulisse conducted by the composer in Rome, and Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio
Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...
’s Opera for the Florence Festival. He has also premiered 12 pieces by the Australian composer (and broadcaster), Andrew Ford. The one-man music-theatre piece Night and Dreams: the death of Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
was commissioned by the 2000 Adelaide Festival
Adelaide Festival of Arts
The Adelaide Festival of Arts is an arts festival held biennially in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Although locally considered to be one of the world's greatest celebrations of the arts, that is internationally renowned and the pre-eminent cultural event in Australia, it is actually...
.
Gerald English has made many recordings, including the complete works of Monteverdi. He has recorded cantatas by Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann
Georg Philipp Telemann was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually...
, Handel
George Frideric Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...
and Bach with the group Il Pastor Fido. Other composers he has recorded include Andrew Ford, Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
(The Pilgrim's Progress
The Pilgrim's Progress
The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come is a Christian allegory written by John Bunyan and published in February, 1678. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature, has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been...
), Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell – 21 November 1695), was an English organist and Baroque composer of secular and sacred music. Although Purcell incorporated Italian and French stylistic elements into his compositions, his legacy was a uniquely English form of Baroque music...
(Te Deum), John Dowland
John Dowland
John Dowland was an English Renaissance composer, singer, and lutenist. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep" , "Come again", "Flow my tears", "I saw my Lady weepe" and "In darkness let me dwell", but his instrumental music has undergone a major revival, and has...
and Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann
Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
.
Since 1978 he has lived in Australia.