Richard Suart
Encyclopedia
Richard Suart is an English opera singer and actor, who has specialised in the comic roles of Gilbert and Sullivan
operas and in operetta, as well as in avant-garde
modern opera
s. He is probably best-known for his numerous portrayals of Ko-Ko in The Mikado
.
Suart has often performed with English National Opera
, as well as other opera companies throughout the UK, Europe and North America. He has also recorded extensively and performed on the concert platform.
, Lancashire
, and studied at St John's College, Cambridge
(1971–74) and the Royal Academy of Music
(1974–77).
He is chiefly known as a stage performer, but his concert work has included baritone leads in Benjamin Britten
's Saint Nicolas, and Monteverdi's
Vespers, and a song recital of works by Ravel
, Ibert
and Mussorgsky
at the Wigmore Hall
in 1979 as well as some concert performances of his operatic roles.
In 2004 Suart was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.
and the Opera Factory. The Guardian
found his Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte
in 1980 "memorably characterised". Since then, Suart has divided his stage appearances among operas in the regular repertoire, avant-garde
modern operas, and the "patter
" roles in Gilbert and Sullivan
operas.
His mainstream roles have included, for English National Opera
(ENO), Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow
(most recently in 2008), Colonel Frank in Die Fledermaus
and Benoit and Alcindoro in La bohème
; and for Diva Opera, where he directed as well as performing in Britain‚ the Channel Islands
‚ Switzerland and France, he sang Dr. Bartolo in The Barber of Seville
, the title role in Gianni Schicchi
, Dulcamara in The Elixir of Love
, and Frank. At the Royal Albert Hall
, he sang the Sacristan in Tosca
; at Garsington
he played Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro
(2000) and Caspar in Genoveva
, among others; for Reisopera he sang Swallow in Peter Grimes
. For Opera North he played Schaunard in La bohème, Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola
, the French Ambassador in Of Thee I Sing
(1998 and 2008), Barabashkin in Paradise Moscow
(2009), and General Adam Snookfield in Let 'Em Eat Cake
(2009). For Holland Park Opera he played two roles in Umberto Giordano
's Andrea Chénier
in 2005.
In Mussorgsky's rarely-staged opera,The Marriage (1981), The Guardian noted, "It helped enormously that the central role of Podkolyosin was taken by a singer as skilled in comedy as Richard Suart, making him enough of a Wooster-like
silly ass to be consistently funny without losing the essential Russian flavour." Suart's Viceroy in La Périchole
(1981) was judged "a drolly Dickensian impersonation" by The Times
. Rare excursions into early opera have been in Handel
's Tamerlano
in 1981 and Agrippina
in 2007.
, Suart originated the role of Stan Stock in Benedict Mason
's Playing Away, and for Music Theatre Wales, he created the role of King Arthur in Lynne Plowman's Gwyneth and the Green Knight. With Netherlands Opera
, in Amsterdam and Munich, he sang in the world premieres of Param Vir
's Snatched by the Gods and Broken Strings. The Guardian called his contribution to the latter "a towering piece of vocal acting". Suart sang in the UK premieres of Shostakovich
's Moscow, Cheryomushki
for Pimlico Opera (1995), and in the premieres of Mason's Chaplinoperas in New York (2005), Germany, Portugal, Holland and Austria. He has sung Peter Maxwell Davies
's Eight Songs for a Mad King
in Gelsenkirchen's Musiktheater im Revier
‚ Milan
‚ Helsinki
‚ Strasbourg
‚ Stavanger
and Paris. In 1987, The Musical Times
described his performance in that work as "compelling from start to finish". In 2010, Suart received warm notices for his performance as Pangloss in Candide
at the Hollywood Bowl
.
In 1999, Suart made his Salzburg Festival
debut in Ligeti
's Le Grand Macabre
. Other modern works in which Suart has appeared include Tippett
's King Priam, Betty Roe's Gaslight, Harrison Birtwistle
's Yan Tan Tethera
and The Mask of Orpheus
and Aribert Reimann's The Ghost Sonata, in which, The Musical Times wrote, "Richard Suart's Hummel was a remarkable tour de force", Alun Hoddinott's What the Old Man Does is Always Right and Philip Glass
's Fall of the House of Usher, in which Suart was praised for his "fine central performance". In 2006, Suart created the role of Mr Walter in Michel van der Aa
's After Life at the Holland Festival, and in 2009–2010, he sang the role in Europe and at the UK premiere at Barbican Hall
.
. Later in his career he played in the first performance of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera at the Royal Opera House
, Covent Garden, as Jack Point in The Yeomen of the Guard
when Welsh National Opera
included the work in their London season there in 1995. He played several roles in the Savoy opera
s with the revived D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
beginning in 1988, and also in their Orpheus in the Underworld
(1994) and La vie parisienne
(1995) by Jacques Offenbach
. Of his 1998 performances in The Pirates of Penzance
for D'Oyly Carte, The Guardian wrote, "Richard Suart, a natural successor to the great John Reed
, patters astoundingly and is gleefully funny as Major General Stanley."
Suart has played Ko-Ko in The Mikado in revivals of Jonathan Miller
's ENO production since 1989 and for many other companies, including twice with the New York City Opera
(2001 and 2003). He is known for frequently rewriting the "little list" song from that opera. He published a book in 2008 excerpting many of his "little list" versions and discussing The Mikado, called They’d None of ’em Be Missed. Also for ENO, he played Major-General Stanley in Pirates in 2004.
With Diva Opera, his Gilbert and Sullivan roles have included the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury and Cox in Cox and Box
. In 1995, he played the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe
at the Royal Festival Hall
in a concert performance conducted by Roger Norrington
. For Opera della Luna
, he has performed the role of the Vicar in The Parson's Pirates (2002 and 2008), and he has also performed roles with The Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival
, including King Gama in Princess Ida
and the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers
. He created an entertainment entitled As a Matter of Patter, consisting mostly of Gilbert and Sullivan songs and dialogue and his own anecdotes‚ which he has performed with his wife in the United Kingdom‚ South Africa and the Middle East. Suart has also appeared in three semi-staged productions at The Proms
, in The Gondoliers (1997), Iolanthe (2000) and H.M.S. Pinafore
(2005); all three performances were broadcast live on BBC Radio 3
and the former two were recorded for later broadcast, in abridged form, on BBC television.
's Miserere No. 2 in C minor (1980); Eight Songs for a Mad King (1887 for Finnish TV and Channel 4
); Leonard Bernstein
's Candide
with the composer conducting the London Symphony Orchestra
(1989); Mark-Anthony Turnage
's Greek (DVD) filmed in 1990; György Ligeti
's Le Grand Macabre
(1992); Heinrich Marschner
's Der Vampyr
(1992); Henry Purcell
's The Fairy-Queen
(1992); Benjamin Britten
's A Midsummer Night's Dream
(1993); Cheryomushki (1995); Gustav Holst
's At the Boar's Head
(1996); and Ralph Vaughan Williams
's The Poisoned Kiss
(2003). For the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, he recorded the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, and Jupiter in Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld
(1994). For Welsh National Opera and Sir Charles Mackerras
, he recorded Ko-Ko in The Mikado (1992), the Major-General in Pirates (1993), Sir Joseph in Pinafore (1994), Jack Point in Yeomen (1995), and the Judge in Trial.
For Hyperion, Suart has recorded the roles of Grigg in Sullivan's The Contrabandista
(2004), and roles in the Edwardian musical comedies
The Geisha
and The Maid of the Mountains
(2000). In 2008, Hyperion released a recording entitled Lionel Monckton
(1861–1924): Songs from the Shows, featuring Suart and Catherine Bott
. In 2004, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Sir Charles Mackerras
, Suart recorded the Flanders and Swann
number "Ill Wind" as a filler for a CD of the Mozart horn concertos, on one of which it is based. He sang Hassan in the BBC recording of Sullivan's The Rose of Persia
(2005). He also participated in the BBC broadcast and recording of Rachel Portman
's new opera, The Little Prince
(2005). He is heard on the 2009 recording of Tom Jones
.
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
operas and in operetta, as well as in avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
modern opera
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...
s. He is probably best-known for his numerous portrayals of Ko-Ko in The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
.
Suart has often performed with 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...
, as well as other opera companies throughout the UK, Europe and North America. He has also recorded extensively and performed on the concert platform.
Biography
Suart was born on 5 September 1951 in BlackpoolBlackpool
Blackpool is a borough, seaside town, and unitary authority area of Lancashire, in North West England. It is situated along England's west coast by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre estuaries, northwest of Preston, north of Liverpool, and northwest of Manchester...
, Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, and studied at St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College, Cambridge
St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
(1971–74) and the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
(1974–77).
He is chiefly known as a stage performer, but his concert work has included baritone leads in 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...
's Saint Nicolas, and Monteverdi's
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...
Vespers, and a song recital of works by Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
, Ibert
Jacques Ibert
Jacques François Antoine Ibert was a French composer. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first attempt, despite studies interrupted by his service in World War I.Ibert pursued a successful composing career,...
and Mussorgsky
Modest Mussorgsky
Modest Petrovich Mussorgsky was a Russian composer, one of the group known as 'The Five'. He was an innovator of Russian music in the romantic period...
at the Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a leading international recital venue that specialises in hosting performances of chamber music and is best known for classical recitals of piano, song and instrumental music. It is located at 36 Wigmore Street, London, UK and was built to provide London with a venue that was both...
in 1979 as well as some concert performances of his operatic roles.
In 2004 Suart was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.
Opera
Suart's early operatic roles were with the English Music Theatre CompanyEnglish 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...
and the Opera Factory. The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
found his Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte
Così fan tutte, ossia La scuola degli amanti K. 588, is an opera buffa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart first performed in 1790. The libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte....
in 1980 "memorably characterised". Since then, Suart has divided his stage appearances among operas in the regular repertoire, avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
modern operas, and the "patter
Patter song
The patter song is characterized by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of text corresponds to one note...
" roles in Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
operas.
His mainstream roles have included, for 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...
(ENO), Baron Zeta 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,...
(most recently in 2008), Colonel Frank 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 :...
and Benoit and Alcindoro in La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
; and for Diva Opera, where he directed as well as performing in Britain‚ the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
‚ Switzerland and France, he sang Dr. Bartolo in The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville
The Barber of Seville, or The Futile Precaution is an opera buffa in two acts by Gioachino Rossini with a libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy Le Barbier de Séville , which was originally an opéra comique, or a mixture of spoken play with music...
, the title role in Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi
Gianni Schicchi is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's Divine Comedy. The work is the third and final part of Puccini's Il trittico —three one-act operas with...
, Dulcamara in The Elixir of Love
L'elisir d'amore
L'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
, and Frank. At the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
, he sang the Sacristan in Tosca
Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900...
; at Garsington
Garsington
Garsington is a village and civil parish about southeast of Oxford in Oxfordshire.-Notable Garsington buildings:The earliest part of the Church of England parish church of Saint Mary is the Norman tower, built towards the end of the 12th century. The Gothic Revival architect Joseph Clarke restored...
he played Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
(2000) and Caspar in Genoveva
Genoveva
Genoveva is an opera in four acts by Robert Schumann in the genre of German Romanticism with a libretto by Robert Reinick and the composer. The only opera Schumann ever wrote, it received its first performance on 25 June 1850 at the Stadttheater in Leipzig, with the composer conducting...
, among others; for Reisopera he sang Swallow in Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes
Peter Grimes is an opera by Benjamin Britten, with a libretto adapted by Montagu Slater from the Peter Grimes section of George Crabbe's poem The Borough...
. For Opera North he played Schaunard in La bohème, Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola
La Cenerentola
La Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the fairy tale Cinderella...
, the French Ambassador in Of Thee I Sing
Of Thee I Sing
Of Thee I Sing is a musical with a score by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin and a book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. The musical lampoons American politics; the story concerns John P. Wintergreen, who runs for President of the United States on the "love" platform...
(1998 and 2008), Barabashkin in Paradise Moscow
Moscow, Cheryomushki
Moscow, Cheryomushki is an operetta in three acts by Dmitri Shostakovich, his Op. 105. It is sometimes referred to as simply Cheryomushki...
(2009), and General Adam Snookfield in Let 'Em Eat Cake
Let 'Em Eat Cake
Let 'Em Eat Cake is a Broadway musical that opened October 21, 1933 at the Imperial Theatre, New York, USA and ran for 89 performances. It had music by George Gershwin, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and book by George S. Kaufman and Morrie Ryskind. The cast included William Gaxton, Victor Moore, Philip...
(2009). For Holland Park Opera he played two roles in Umberto Giordano
Umberto Giordano
Umberto Menotti Maria Giordano was an Italian composer, mainly of operas.He was born in Foggia in Puglia, southern Italy, and studied under Paolo Serrao at the Conservatoire of Naples...
's Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier
Andrea Chénier is a verismo opera in four acts by the composer Umberto Giordano, set to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica. It is based loosely on the life of the French poet, André Chénier , who was executed during the French Revolution....
in 2005.
In Mussorgsky's rarely-staged opera,The Marriage (1981), The Guardian noted, "It helped enormously that the central role of Podkolyosin was taken by a singer as skilled in comedy as Richard Suart, making him enough of a Wooster-like
Bertie Wooster
Bertram Wilberforce "Bertie" Wooster is a recurring fictional character in the Jeeves novels of British author P. G. Wodehouse. An English gentleman, one of the "idle rich" and a member of the Drones Club, he appears alongside his valet, Jeeves, whose genius manages to extricate Bertie or one of...
silly ass to be consistently funny without losing the essential Russian flavour." Suart's Viceroy in La Périchole
La Périchole
La Périchole is an opéra bouffe in three acts by Jacques Offenbach. Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy wrote the French-language libretto based on the 1829 one act play Le carrosse du Saint-Sacrement by Prosper Mérimée, which was revived on 13 March 1850 at the Théâtre-Français...
(1981) was judged "a drolly Dickensian impersonation" by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
. Rare excursions into early opera have been in 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...
's Tamerlano
Tamerlano
Tamerlano is an opera in three acts written for the Royal Academy of Music , with music by George Frideric Handel to an Italian text by Nicola Francesco Haym, adapted from Agostin Piovene's Tamerlano together with another libretto entitled Bajazet after Nicolas Pradon's Tamerlan, ou La Mort de...
in 1981 and Agrippina
Agrippina (opera)
Agrippina is an opera seria in three acts by George Frideric Handel, from a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani. Composed for the Venice Carnevale season, the opera tells the story of Agrippina, the mother of Nero, as she plots the downfall of the Roman Emperor Claudius and the installation of...
in 2007.
Modern works
For Opera NorthOpera North
Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays and the Theatre Royal, Newcastle...
, Suart originated the role of Stan Stock in Benedict Mason
Benedict Mason
Benedict Mason, born on 23 February 1954, is a British composer.Mason was educated at King's College Cambridge and took a degree in film-making at the Royal College of Art . He did not turn to composition until his early 30s, but his first acknowledged work, Hinterstoisser Traverse , attracted...
's Playing Away, and for Music Theatre Wales, he created the role of King Arthur in Lynne Plowman's Gwyneth and the Green Knight. With Netherlands Opera
De Nederlandse Opera
De Nederlandse Opera , in Amsterdam, is a Dutch opera company based in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Its present home base is the Het Muziektheater, a modern building designed by Cees Dam which opened in 1986....
, in Amsterdam and Munich, he sang in the world premieres of Param Vir
Param Vir
Param Vir is a British composer originally from India.Born in Delhi, Param Vir read philosophy at Delhi University and studied composition in England with Peter Maxwell Davies and Oliver Knussen....
's Snatched by the Gods and Broken Strings. The Guardian called his contribution to the latter "a towering piece of vocal acting". Suart sang in the UK premieres of Shostakovich
Dmitri Shostakovich
Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
's Moscow, Cheryomushki
Moscow, Cheryomushki
Moscow, Cheryomushki is an operetta in three acts by Dmitri Shostakovich, his Op. 105. It is sometimes referred to as simply Cheryomushki...
for Pimlico Opera (1995), and in the premieres of Mason's Chaplinoperas in New York (2005), Germany, Portugal, Holland and Austria. He has sung Peter Maxwell Davies
Peter Maxwell Davies
Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
's Eight Songs for a Mad King
Eight Songs for a Mad King
Eight Songs for a Mad King is a monodrama by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies with a libretto by Randolph Stow, based on words of George III. The work was written for the South-African actor Roy Hart and the composer's ensemble the Pierrot Players, and premiered on 22 April 1969...
in Gelsenkirchen's Musiktheater im Revier
Musiktheater im Revier
Musiktheater im Revier is the venue for performing opera, operetta, musical theatre and ballet in Gelsenkirchen, Germany...
‚ Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
‚ Helsinki
Helsinki
Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is...
‚ Strasbourg
Strasbourg
Strasbourg is the capital and principal city of the Alsace region in eastern France and is the official seat of the European Parliament. Located close to the border with Germany, it is the capital of the Bas-Rhin département. The city and the region of Alsace are historically German-speaking,...
‚ Stavanger
Stavanger
Stavanger is a city and municipality in the county of Rogaland, Norway.Stavanger municipality has a population of 126,469. There are 197,852 people living in the Stavanger conurbation, making Stavanger the fourth largest city, but the third largest urban area, in Norway...
and Paris. In 1987, The Musical Times
The Musical Times
The Musical Times is an academic journal of classical music edited and produced in the United Kingdom. It is currently the oldest such journal that is still publishing in the UK, having been published continuously since 1844. It was published as The Musical Times and Singing Class Circular until...
described his performance in that work as "compelling from start to finish". In 2010, Suart received warm notices for his performance as Pangloss in Candide
Candide (operetta)
Candide is an operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire. The operetta was first performed in 1956 with a libretto by Lillian Hellman; but since 1974 it has been generally performed with a book by Hugh Wheeler which is more faithful to...
at the Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
.
In 1999, Suart made his Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
debut in 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...
. Other modern works in which Suart has appeared include Tippett
Tippett
Tippett is the surname of:*Andre Tippett , American footballer*Clark Tippet , American dancer*Dave Tippett , ice hockey coach*Gerald Tippett, fictional character in Shortland Street...
's King Priam, Betty Roe's Gaslight, Harrison Birtwistle
Harrison Birtwistle
Sir Harrison Paul Birtwistle CH is a British contemporary composer.-Life:Birtwistle was born in Accrington, a mill town in Lancashire some 20 miles north of Manchester. His interest in music was encouraged by his mother, who bought him a clarinet when he was seven, and arranged for him to have...
's Yan Tan Tethera
Yan Tan Tethera (opera)
Yan Tan Tethera is a chamber opera by the English composer Harrison Birtwistle with a libretto by the poet Tony Harrison, based on a supernatural folk tale about two shepherds, their sheep, and the Devil. It was first performed at Queen Elizabeth Hall, London on 7 August 1986...
and The Mask of Orpheus
The Mask of Orpheus
The Mask of Orpheus is an opera with music by Harrison Birtwistle and a libretto by Peter Zinovieff. It was premiered in London at the English National Opera on May 21, 1986 to great critical acclaim. A recorded version conducted by Andrew Davis and Martyn Brabbins has also received good reviews...
and Aribert Reimann's The Ghost Sonata, in which, The Musical Times wrote, "Richard Suart's Hummel was a remarkable tour de force", Alun Hoddinott's What the Old Man Does is Always Right and Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
's Fall of the House of Usher, in which Suart was praised for his "fine central performance". In 2006, Suart created the role of Mr Walter in Michel van der Aa
Michel van der Aa
Michel van der Aa is a Dutch composer of contemporary classical music.- Early years :Michel van der Aa trained as a recording engineer at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague...
's After Life at the Holland Festival, and in 2009–2010, he sang the role in Europe and at the UK premiere at Barbican Hall
Barbican Centre
The Barbican Centre is the largest performing arts centre in Europe. Located in the City of London, England, the Centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions. It also houses a library, three restaurants, and a conservatory...
.
Gilbert and Sullivan
Suart's association with the Savoy operas began early. At the Royal Academy of Music he took part in the opening performance at the Academy's new opera theatre in 1977, playing the Learned Judge in Trial by JuryTrial by Jury
Trial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its...
. Later in his career he played in the first performance of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera at the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, Covent Garden, as Jack Point in The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard
The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid, is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888, and ran for 423 performances...
when Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
included the work in their London season there in 1995. He played several roles in the Savoy opera
Savoy opera
The Savoy Operas denote a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte built to house...
s with the revived D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company was a professional light opera company that staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas. The company performed nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere, from the 1870s until it closed in 1982. It was revived in 1988 and...
beginning in 1988, and also in their 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....
(1994) and La vie parisienne
La vie parisienne
La vie parisienne is an opéra bouffe, or operetta, composed by Jacques Offenbach, with a libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy.This work was Offenbach's first full-length piece to portray contemporary Parisian life, unlike his earlier period pieces and mythological subjects...
(1995) by Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
. Of his 1998 performances 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...
for D'Oyly Carte, The Guardian wrote, "Richard Suart, a natural successor to the great John Reed
John Reed (actor)
John Lamb Reed, OBE was an English actor, dancer and singer, known for his nimble performances in the principal comic roles of the Savoy Operas, particularly with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company...
, patters astoundingly and is gleefully funny as Major General Stanley."
Suart has played Ko-Ko in The Mikado in revivals of Jonathan Miller
Jonathan Miller
Sir Jonathan Wolfe Miller CBE is a British theatre and opera director, author, physician, television presenter, humorist and sculptor. Trained as a physician in the late 1950s, he first came to prominence in the 1960s with his role in the comedy revue Beyond the Fringe with fellow writers and...
's ENO production since 1989 and for many other companies, including twice with the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
(2001 and 2003). He is known for frequently rewriting the "little list" song from that opera. He published a book in 2008 excerpting many of his "little list" versions and discussing The Mikado, called They’d None of ’em Be Missed. Also for ENO, he played Major-General Stanley in Pirates in 2004.
With Diva Opera, his Gilbert and Sullivan roles have included the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury and Cox in Cox and Box
Cox and Box
Cox and Box; or, The Long-Lost Brothers, is a one-act comic opera with a libretto by F. C. Burnand and music by Arthur Sullivan, based on the 1847 farce Box and Cox by John Maddison Morton. It was Sullivan's first successful comic opera. The story concerns a landlord who lets a room to two...
. In 1995, he played the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe
Iolanthe
Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh collaboration of the fourteen between Gilbert and Sullivan....
at the Royal Festival Hall
Royal Festival Hall
The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge. It is a Grade I listed building - the first post-war building to become so protected...
in a concert performance conducted by Roger Norrington
Roger Norrington
Sir Roger Arthur Carver Norrington, CBE is a British conductor. He is the son of Sir Arthur Norrington and his brother is Humphrey Thomas Norrington....
. For Opera della Luna
Opera della Luna
Opera della Luna, founded in 1994, is a British touring theatre troupe of actor-singers focusing on comic works. Led by artistic director Jeff Clarke, it takes its name from Haydn's operatic setting of Goldoni's farce Il mondo della luna...
, he has performed the role of the Vicar in The Parson's Pirates (2002 and 2008), and he has also performed roles with The Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival
International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival
The International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival is held every summer at the Opera House in Buxton, Derbyshire, England. The three-week Festival of Gilbert and Sullivan performances and fringe events attracts thousands of visitors, including performers, supporters, and G&S enthusiasts from all...
, including King Gama in Princess Ida
Princess Ida
Princess Ida; or, Castle Adamant is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was their eighth operatic collaboration of fourteen. Princess Ida opened at the Savoy Theatre on January 5, 1884, for a run of 246 performances...
and the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers
The Gondoliers; or, The King of Barataria is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 7 December 1889 and ran for a very successful 554 performances , closing on 30 June 1891...
. He created an entertainment entitled As a Matter of Patter, consisting mostly of Gilbert and Sullivan songs and dialogue and his own anecdotes‚ which he has performed with his wife in the United Kingdom‚ South Africa and the Middle East. Suart has also appeared in three semi-staged productions at The Proms
The Proms
The Proms, more formally known as The BBC Proms, or The Henry Wood Promenade Concerts presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hall in London...
, in The Gondoliers (1997), Iolanthe (2000) and H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
(2005); all three performances were broadcast live on BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a national radio station operated by the BBC within the United Kingdom. Its output centres on classical music and opera, but jazz, world music, drama, culture and the arts also feature. The station is the world’s most significant commissioner of new music, and its New Generation...
and the former two were recorded for later broadcast, in abridged form, on BBC television.
Recordings
Among Suart's numerous recordings are Giovanni Battista PergolesiGiovanni Battista Pergolesi
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi was an Italian composer, violinist and organist.-Biography:Born at Iesi, Pergolesi studied music there under a local musician, Francesco Santini, before going to Naples in 1725, where he studied under Gaetano Greco and Francesco Feo among others...
's Miserere No. 2 in C minor (1980); Eight Songs for a Mad King (1887 for Finnish TV and Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
); Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
's Candide
Candide (operetta)
Candide is an operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire. The operetta was first performed in 1956 with a libretto by Lillian Hellman; but since 1974 it has been generally performed with a book by Hugh Wheeler which is more faithful to...
with the composer conducting the London Symphony Orchestra
London Symphony Orchestra
The London Symphony Orchestra is a major orchestra of the United Kingdom, as well as one of the best-known orchestras in the world. Since 1982, the LSO has been based in London's Barbican Centre.-History:...
(1989); Mark-Anthony Turnage
Mark-Anthony Turnage
Mark-Anthony Turnage is a prolific English composer of classical music. His initial musical studies were with Oliver Knussen, John Lambert, and later with Gunther Schuller...
's Greek (DVD) filmed in 1990; 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...
(1992); Heinrich Marschner
Heinrich Marschner
Heinrich August Marschner , was the most important composer of German Romantic opera between Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner, and is remembered principally for his operas Hans Heiling , Der Vampyr , and Der Templer und die Jüdin...
's Der Vampyr
Der Vampyr
Der Vampyr is a Romantic opera in two acts by Heinrich Marschner. The German libretto by Wilhelm August Wohlbrück is based on the play Der Vampir oder die Totenbraut by Heinrich Ludwig Ritter, which itself was based on the short novel The Vampyre by John Polidori...
(1992); 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...
's The Fairy-Queen
The Fairy-Queen
The Fairy-Queen is a masque or semi-opera by Henry Purcell; a "Restoration spectacular". The libretto is an anonymous adaptation of William Shakespeare's wedding comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream. First performed in 1692, The Fairy-Queen was composed three years before Purcell's death at the age...
(1992); 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...
's A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream (opera)
A Midsummer Night's Dream is an opera with music by Benjamin Britten and set to a libretto adapted by the composer and Peter Pears from William Shakespeare's play, A Midsummer Night's Dream...
(1993); Cheryomushki (1995); Gustav Holst
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
's At the Boar's Head
At the Boar's Head
At the Boar's Head is an opera in one act by the English composer Gustav Holst, his op. 42. Holst himself described the work as "A Musical Interlude in One Act". The libretto, by the composer himself, is based on Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2.Holst devised the idea for this...
(1996); and 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...
's The Poisoned Kiss
The Poisoned Kiss
The Poisoned Kiss, or The Empress and the Necromancer is an opera in three acts by the English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. The libretto, by Evelyn Sharp, is based on Richard Garnett's The Poison Maid and Nathaniel Hawthorne's Rappaccini's Daughter...
(2003). For the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, he recorded the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, and Jupiter in Offenbach's 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....
(1994). For Welsh National Opera and 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 recorded Ko-Ko in The Mikado (1992), the Major-General in Pirates (1993), Sir Joseph in Pinafore (1994), Jack Point in Yeomen (1995), and the Judge in Trial.
For Hyperion, Suart has recorded the roles of Grigg in Sullivan's The Contrabandista
The Contrabandista
The Contrabandista, or The Law of the Ladrones, is a two-act comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand. It premiered at St. George's Hall, in London, on 18 December 1867 under the management of Thomas German Reed, for a run of 72 performances. There were brief revivals in Manchester in 1874...
(2004), and roles in the Edwardian musical comedies
Edwardian Musical Comedy
Edwardian musical comedies were British musical theatre shows from the period between the early 1890s, when the Gilbert and Sullivan operas' dominance had ended, until the rise of the American musicals by Jerome Kern, Rodgers and Hart, George Gershwin and Cole Porter following World War I.Between...
The Geisha
The Geisha
The Geisha, a story of a tea house is an Edwardian Musical Comedy in two acts. The score was composed by Sidney Jones to a libretto by Owen Hall, with lyrics by Harry Greenbank. Additional songs were written by Lionel Monckton and James Philip....
and The Maid of the Mountains
The Maid of the Mountains
The Maid of the Mountains, called in its original score a musical play, is an operetta or musical comedy in three acts. The music was by Harold Fraser-Simson, with additional music by James W...
(2000). In 2008, Hyperion released a recording entitled Lionel Monckton
Lionel Monckton
Lionel John Alexander Monckton was an English writer and composer of musical theatre. He was Britain's most popular musical theatre composer of the early years of the 20th century.-Early life:...
(1861–1924): Songs from the Shows, featuring Suart and Catherine Bott
Catherine Bott
Catherine Bott is a British soprano and a baroque specialist.Following her studies at The King's High School For Girls, and Guildhall School of Music and Drama, with Arthur Reckless, she began her career as a member of the English baroque-jazz crossover group, The Swingle Singers...
. In 2004, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and 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...
, Suart recorded the Flanders and Swann
Flanders and Swann
The British duo Flanders and Swann were the actor and singer Michael Flanders and the composer, pianist and linguist Donald Swann , who collaborated in writing and performing comic songs....
number "Ill Wind" as a filler for a CD of the Mozart horn concertos, on one of which it is based. He sang Hassan in the BBC recording of Sullivan's The Rose of Persia
The Rose of Persia
The Rose of Persia; or, The Story-Teller and the Slave, is a two-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by Basil Hood. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 29 November 1899, closing on 28 June 1900 after a profitable run of 211 performances...
(2005). He also participated in the BBC broadcast and recording of Rachel Portman
Rachel Portman
Rachel Mary Berkeley Portman, OBE is a British composer, best known for her film work. She was the first female composer to win an Academy Award in the category of Best Original Score...
's new opera, The Little Prince
The Little Prince (opera)
The Little Prince, subtitled A Magical Opera, is an opera in two acts by Rachel Portman to an English libretto by Nicholas Wright, based on the 1943 book of the same name by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry...
(2005). He is heard on the 2009 recording of Tom Jones
Tom Jones (opera)
Tom Jones is a comic opera in three acts by Edward German founded upon Henry Fielding's 1749 novel, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, with a libretto by Robert Courtneidge and Alexander M. Thompson and lyrics by Charles H. Taylor....
.
External links
- Richard Suart at the IMDB database
- Article in The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
on Suart's rewrite of the "little list" song regarding the ENO board - Richard Suart's official website
- Richard Suart at the MusicHall UK website