Jon Weaving
Encyclopedia
Jon Weaving was an Australian opera
singer.
suburb of Kew
. His maternal cousin was the tenor Ken Neate
. He studied singing with Jessye Schmidt and Browning Mummery
before leaving for further studies in London with Dino Borgioli, Joan Cross
, Herman Simberg, Audrey Langford, Andrew Field and Glyndebourne's Jani Strasser. During this time he also worked as a rehearsal singer with Sir Thomas Beecham
for two years before his friend, Richard Bonynge
assisted enormously in developing a tenor
voice from his former bass - baritone. After a further two years with Bonynge, Jon was engaged by the Sadler's Wells Opera and made his debut as Danilo in The Merry Widow
opposite June Bronhill
at the London Coliseum, the first of many hundreds of performances of the role.
At Sadler's Wells Weaving also sang Lensky in Eugene Onegin
, Alfredo in La traviata
, and Roméo et Juliette
opposite Elsie Morrison as well as other operetta appearances including Pluto in Orpheus in the Underworld
, Raoul de Gardefeu in La Vie Parisienne and Danilo, all of which were recorded by HMV
at the famous Abbey Road studios
. In this time he made various recordings with the BBC
, the first of which was as Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus
direct from a stage performance at the Wells. He also sang again with June Bronhill when he appeared as Sir Walter Raleigh in Merrie England
. In 1962, Jon began a tour of Australia and New Zealand for Sadler's Wells which had become the English National Opera
Company. During this time he starred in a weekly television series with Suzanne Steele which ran on the ABC for three years. He sang with the All-State Symphony Orchestra during this period and on his third tour of New Zealand, directed and sang Frederick in The Pirates of Penzance
at Her Majesty's Theatre in Auckland
.
after many Covent Garden auditions for the role of MacHeath in Britten
's adaptation of The Beggar's Opera
and sang this role under the baton of Norman del Mar
in London, France and in Montreal at the World Expo in 1967
. After study with Modesti in Paris he was engaged for his first Wagnerian
role, Lohengrin, which he sang first at the Kiel Opera House
in 1967. In Kiel, he went on to sing Herman in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades
, Otello, Andrier Chenier, Hoffman, Canio, Gounod's Faust
, Don Jose, Florestan, MacDuff in Macbeth etc., as well as singing classical operetta roles such as Sou Chong in The Land of Smiles
, Danilo in The Merry Widow
, The Count of Luxembourg and The Gypsy Baron. He also created roles in four world premieres during this time and later Rashomon for the Olympic Games
in Munich. He was constantly offered Wagnerian roles and finally agreed to sing Siegmund under the baton of Hans Zender and Klaus Tennstedt
. This was a success and was followed by Loge in Das Rheingold
and Erik in The Flying Dutchman
. During this time in Kiel he guested all over Europe and returned to London for performances of Pluto in Orpheus in the Underworld
and Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos
under Sir Charles Mackerras
. He made numerous television appearances during this time also e.g. The Phil Silvers Show
where he sang arias and appeared in a duet with his former idol, Sergeant Bilko. He made his debut at the Bavarian State Opera, Munich as Dimitri in Boris Godunov
under Rafael Kubelík
and then returned to Australia for concerts and a recording of Malcolm Williamson
's Violins of St.Jacques with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra which was also released on video. Returning to Europe he finally decided to accept offers to sing both Siegfrieds
and sang his first Ring in London under the batons of Sir Charles Mackerras and Sir Reginald Goodall
. His first German Ring was in Wiesbaden and he was offered numerous contracts to sing the two roles in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and France. He continued every year to sing the Siegfrieds and Siegmund in the famous English Ring in London and went on to create the Siegfrieds in the Herz Ring in Wagner's birthplace, Leipzig. He sang in this famous production for several seasons before deciding to take his family back to Australia where he was to sing a recital tour with Geoffrey Parsons, record two albums and sing numerous concerts for the ABC
throughout Australia. He sang Siegmund and Siegfried for the Australian Opera, again under Sir Charles Mackerras and performed Die Walküre
with both Hiroyuki Iwaki and Leif Segerstam. With his wife, the Swedish soprano Monique Brynnel he made a television series and appeared in numerous concerts and sung with her in seasons with the Victorian and Queensland Opera companies. He lived in Kew in Melbourne and made a career teaching singing privately, having numerous successful students enter the opera world. He had two sons; Jon (b.1955 to first wife soprano Margaret Nisbett
) and Jack b.1974.
Jon was offered numerous film roles, the highlight of which was to be invited to Rome by Federico Fellini to screen test for the lead in Casanova. This he declined in order to continue his operatic career. He had many very successful singing students.
In May 2011, Jon and Monique emigrated from Australia to Sweden. They established a singing school in their new home town.
Opera
Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
singer.
Early life and career
He was born on 23 February 1931 in the MelbourneMelbourne
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...
suburb of Kew
Kew, Victoria
Kew is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 6 km east from Melbourne's central business district. Its Local Government Area is the City of Boroondara. At the 2006 Census, Kew had a population of 22,516....
. His maternal cousin was the tenor Ken Neate
Kenneth Neate
Kenneth Neate was a renowned Australian operatic and concert tenor, opera producer and singing teacher. He was a regular artist in Wagnerian opera at Bayreuth, and he was noted as a dramatic tenor in German, French, and Italian repertoire in opera houses in England, France, Italy, Austria,...
. He studied singing with Jessye Schmidt and Browning Mummery
Browning Mummery (tenor)
Browning Mummery , was an Australian opera tenor and actor of the 1920s and '30s who achieved a considerable reputation in Europe as well as Australia....
before leaving for further studies in London with Dino Borgioli, Joan Cross
Joan Cross
Joan Cross was an English soprano, closely associated with the operas of Benjamin Britten. She also sang in the Italian and German operatic repertoires. She later became a musical administrator, taking on the direction of the Sadler's Wells Opera Company.-Career:Cross was born in London...
, Herman Simberg, Audrey Langford, Andrew Field and Glyndebourne's Jani Strasser. During this time he also worked as a rehearsal singer with 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...
for two years before his friend, Richard Bonynge
Richard Bonynge
Richard Alan Bonynge, AO, CBE is an Australian conductor and pianist.Bonynge was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for...
assisted enormously in developing a 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...
voice from his former bass - baritone. After a further two years with Bonynge, Jon was engaged by the Sadler's Wells Opera and made his debut as Danilo in The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
opposite June Bronhill
June Bronhill
June Bronhill OBE was an internationally acclaimed Australian soprano opera singer.-Biography:She was born June Mary Gough in the inland Australian city of Broken Hill, New South Wales...
at the London Coliseum, the first of many hundreds of performances of the role.
At Sadler's Wells Weaving also sang Lensky in Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
, Alfredo in La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, and Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette is an opéra in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique , Paris on 27 April 1867...
opposite Elsie Morrison as well as other operetta appearances including Pluto in Orpheus in the Underworld
Orpheus in the Underworld
Orphée aux enfers is an opéra bouffon , or opéra féerie in its revised version, by Jacques Offenbach. The French text was written by Ludovic Halévy and later revised by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux....
, Raoul de Gardefeu in La Vie Parisienne and Danilo, all of which were recorded by HMV
HMV
His Master's Voice is a trademark in the music business, and for many years was the name of a large record label. The name was coined in 1899 as the title of a painting of the dog Nipper listening to a wind-up gramophone...
at the famous Abbey Road studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
. In this time he made various recordings with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, the first of which was as Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus
Die Fledermaus is an operetta composed by Johann Strauss II to a German libretto by Karl Haffner and Richard Genée.- Literary sources :...
direct from a stage performance at the Wells. He also sang again with June Bronhill when he appeared as Sir Walter Raleigh in Merrie England
Merrie England
Merrie England may also refer to:*Merry England, an idealised conception pastoral English life*Merrie England , a book of essays on socialism by Robert Blatchford* Merrie England , a comic opera by Edward German...
. In 1962, Jon began a tour of Australia and New Zealand for Sadler's Wells which had become the English National Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
Company. During this time he starred in a weekly television series with Suzanne Steele which ran on the ABC for three years. He sang with the All-State Symphony Orchestra during this period and on his third tour of New Zealand, directed and sang Frederick in The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance
The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. The opera's official premiere was at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York City on 31 December 1879, where the show was well received by both audiences...
at Her Majesty's Theatre in Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
.
Biography
Returning to Europe in 1966 he was engaged by Benjamin BrittenBenjamin 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...
after many Covent Garden auditions for the role of MacHeath in 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...
's adaptation of The Beggar's Opera
The Beggar's Opera
The Beggar's Opera is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satirical ballad opera to remain popular today...
and sang this role under the baton of Norman del Mar
Norman Del Mar
Norman Del Mar CBE was a British conductor, horn player, and biographer. As a conductor, he specialized in the music of late romantic composers; including Edward Elgar, Gustav Mahler, and Richard Strauss. He left a great legacy of recordings of British music, in particular Elgar, Vaughan Williams,...
in London, France and in Montreal at the World Expo in 1967
Expo 67
The 1967 International and Universal Exposition or Expo 67, as it was commonly known, was the general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from April 27 to October 29, 1967. It is considered to be the most successful World's Fair of the 20th century, with the...
. After study with Modesti in Paris he was engaged for his first Wagnerian
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
role, Lohengrin, which he sang first at the Kiel Opera House
Kiel Opera House
The Peabody Opera House is a civic performing arts building in St. Louis, Missouri. Founded as the Kiel Opera House, it opened it 1934 and operated until 1991, when it and the adjacent Kiel Auditorium were closed so the auditorium could be demolished and replaced by the Scottrade Center...
in 1967. In Kiel, he went on to sing Herman in Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades
The Queen of Spades (opera)
The Queen of Spades, Op. 68 is an opera in 3 acts by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky to a Russian libretto by the composer's brother Modest Tchaikovsky, based on a short story of the same name by Alexander Pushkin. The premiere took place in 1890 in St...
, Otello, Andrier Chenier, Hoffman, Canio, Gounod's Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, Don Jose, Florestan, MacDuff in Macbeth etc., as well as singing classical operetta roles such as Sou Chong in The Land of Smiles
The Land of Smiles
The Land of Smiles is a romantic operetta in three acts by Franz Lehár. The German language libretto was by Ludwig Herzer and Fritz Löhner. The performance time is about 100 minutes....
, Danilo in The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow
The Merry Widow is an operetta by the Austro–Hungarian composer Franz Lehár. The librettists, Viktor Léon and Leo Stein, based the story – concerning a rich widow, and her countrymen's attempt to keep her money in the principality by finding her the right husband – on an 1861 comedy play,...
, The Count of Luxembourg and The Gypsy Baron. He also created roles in four world premieres during this time and later Rashomon for the Olympic Games
1972 Summer Olympics
The 1972 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from August 26 to September 11, 1972....
in Munich. He was constantly offered Wagnerian roles and finally agreed to sing Siegmund under the baton of Hans Zender and Klaus Tennstedt
Klaus Tennstedt
Klaus Tennstedt was a German conductor from Merseburg; he conducted such orchestras as the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra; Kiel Opera in Northern Germany; North German Radio Orchestra, in Hamburg; the Minnesota Orchestra; and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.-Life and career:He studied violin and...
. This was a success and was followed by Loge in Das Rheingold
Das Rheingold
is the first of the four operas that constitute Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen . It was originally written as an introduction to the tripartite Ring, but the cycle is now generally regarded as consisting of four individual operas.Das Rheingold received its premiere at the National Theatre...
and Erik in The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman (opera)
Der fliegende Holländer is an opera, with music and libretto by Richard Wagner.Wagner claimed in his 1870 autobiography Mein Leben that he had been inspired to write "The Flying Dutchman" following a stormy sea crossing he made from Riga to London in July and August 1839, but in his 1843...
. During this time in Kiel he guested all over Europe and returned to London for performances of Pluto in Orpheus in the Underworld
Orpheus in the Underworld
Orphée aux enfers is an opéra bouffon , or opéra féerie in its revised version, by Jacques Offenbach. The French text was written by Ludovic Halévy and later revised by Hector-Jonathan Crémieux....
and Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos
Ariadne auf Naxos is an opera by Richard Strauss with a German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. Bringing together slapstick comedy and consuming beautiful music, the opera's theme is the competition between high and low art for the public's attention.- First version :The opera was originally...
under Sir Charles Mackerras
Charles Mackerras
Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan...
. He made numerous television appearances during this time also e.g. The Phil Silvers Show
The Phil Silvers Show
The Phil Silvers Show is a comedy television series which ran on CBS from 1955 to 1959 for 142 episodes, plus a 1959 special. The series starred Phil Silvers as Master Sergeant Ernest G...
where he sang arias and appeared in a duet with his former idol, Sergeant Bilko. He made his debut at the Bavarian State Opera, Munich as Dimitri in Boris Godunov
Boris Godunov (opera)
Boris Godunov is an opera by Modest Mussorgsky . The work was composed between 1868 and 1873 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is Mussorgsky's only completed opera and is considered his masterpiece. Its subjects are the Russian ruler Boris Godunov, who reigned as Tsar during the Time of Troubles,...
under Rafael Kubelík
Rafael Kubelík
Rafael Jeroným Kubelík was a Czech conductor and composer.-Early life:Kubelík was born in Býchory, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary, today's Czech Republic. He was the sixth child of the Bohemian violinist Jan Kubelík, whom the younger Kubelík described as "a kind of god to me." His mother was a Hungarian...
and then returned to Australia for concerts and a recording of Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Williamson
Malcolm Benjamin Graham Christopher Williamson AO , CBE was an Australian composer. He was the Master of the Queen's Music from 1975 until his death.-Biography:...
's Violins of St.Jacques with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra which was also released on video. Returning to Europe he finally decided to accept offers to sing both Siegfrieds
Sigurd
Sigurd is a legendary hero of Norse mythology, as well as the central character in the Völsunga saga. The earliest extant representations for his legend come in pictorial form from seven runestones in Sweden and most notably the Ramsund carving Sigurd (Old Norse: Sigurðr) is a legendary hero of...
and sang his first Ring in London under the batons of Sir Charles Mackerras and Sir Reginald Goodall
Reginald Goodall
Sir Reginald Goodall was an English conductor, noted for his performances of the operas of Richard Wagner and conducting the premieres of several operas by Benjamin Britten.-Biography:...
. His first German Ring was in Wiesbaden and he was offered numerous contracts to sing the two roles in Italy, Germany, Switzerland and France. He continued every year to sing the Siegfrieds and Siegmund in the famous English Ring in London and went on to create the Siegfrieds in the Herz Ring in Wagner's birthplace, Leipzig. He sang in this famous production for several seasons before deciding to take his family back to Australia where he was to sing a recital tour with Geoffrey Parsons, record two albums and sing numerous concerts for the ABC
Australian Broadcasting Corporation
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly referred to as "the ABC" , is Australia's national public broadcaster...
throughout Australia. He sang Siegmund and Siegfried for the Australian Opera, again under Sir Charles Mackerras and performed Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
with both Hiroyuki Iwaki and Leif Segerstam. With his wife, the Swedish soprano Monique Brynnel he made a television series and appeared in numerous concerts and sung with her in seasons with the Victorian and Queensland Opera companies. He lived in Kew in Melbourne and made a career teaching singing privately, having numerous successful students enter the opera world. He had two sons; Jon (b.1955 to first wife soprano Margaret Nisbett
Margaret Nisbett
Margaret Nisbett, MBE, is an Australian coloratura soprano.-Biography:Margaret Nisbett was born in Preston, Victoria. She had an older sister, Coral , now deceased....
) and Jack b.1974.
Jon was offered numerous film roles, the highlight of which was to be invited to Rome by Federico Fellini to screen test for the lead in Casanova. This he declined in order to continue his operatic career. He had many very successful singing students.
In May 2011, Jon and Monique emigrated from Australia to Sweden. They established a singing school in their new home town.
Sources
- The AgeThe AgeThe Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
, "Operetta Team Back for a New Series", 22 October 1964, p. 3 - Kelly, Frances, "Merry Widow Met her Match" The Sun-Herald, 2 September 1973, p. 78
- Vincent, Peter, "Put a song in your heart", Sydney Morning Herald, 12 July 2006