Welcome to the website of an opera singer who started to study singing seriously fifty years ago and who is still studying singing to this day on a daily basis. Still learning new material, rehearsing new productions, working with different directors, conductors and composers, and enjoying the colleagueality of gifted singing-actors, all with the intention of bringing vibrant performances of great music to appreciative audiences. That’s the ultimate purpose of the work, and if you have been a member of my audience on occasion, I hope you left the theatre at the end of the evening glad you had taken the considerable trouble to be there.

I owe my enthusiasm for singing to the Lancashire community and family I grew up with, where we regularly sang round the piano at home, and where many members of my extended family were singers, conductors, organists and pianists; all strictly amateur of course, and proud of it. As a teenager, I was told that I had an unusually ‘strong’ voice, and at age 21 (after graduating as an engineer – the sensible alternative), I made the decision to attempt to become a professional singer, and was taken on by the Royal Manchester College of Music, where I discovered a whole new world, and where I began the long process of learning and development that continues to this day. That was back in 1967, and the resulting performances in my (mainly opera) singing career since then are listed in the Archive on this site. I owe such a lot to so many gifted and generous musicians, teachers, directors, conductors and colleagues, and now in the closing decade of my career, I try when I can to put something back by working with young singers. In fact, at the Manchester College where I began, I have been a regular visitor for several years giving masterclasses and workshops, and currently have the great honour of being President of that splendid institution, now known as The Royal Northern College of Music, a veritable hive of musical talent, learning and activity.

This website does what IT does best – store and order information, in this case over a 50 year period. The archive is unusually extensive, and lists all my performances (around 3,000) of all roles (around 200) on all stages in all years, with a wealth of photographs from as far back as 1966. Many pictures include other singing colleagues you will enjoy being reminded of. There are yet more historical photos, some of higher resolution and down-loadable, in the photo archive; and every recording (around 80) I ever made appears in the discography. What a website cannot do is tell all the stories behind this information. Sometime in the future, I’ll take on the task of putting pen to paper and writing all about it. If you enjoy this site, perhaps you will join the audience of a forthcoming performance where I hope to be able to live up to this hype! I thank you for visiting today.

(photo: The Minotaur by Harrison Birtwistle)

SCHEDULE 2023

updated 3rd Feb 2023
9 MayThe Shackled King – John Casken
Role of King Lear
Newbury Spring Festival
26 June, 1, 5, 9, 12 JulyHamlet – Brett Dean
Roles: Ghost, Player King, Gravedigger
Munich Staatsoper (Bayerische Staatsoper Muenchen)

SCHEDULE 2022

17, 20, 23, 26, 29, 31 MarchPeter Grimes – Britten
Role of Swallow
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
24 JuneThe Shackled King – John Casken
Role of King Lear
Aldborough Festival (Aldborough, Yorkshire)
3 & 4 DecTristan & Isolde Act 2 – Wagner
Role of König Marke
The Mahler Players (Inverness Cathedral & Strathpfeffer Pavilion)

SCHEDULE 2021

10, 11 April Cancelled due to Covid-19Oedipus Rex – Stravinsky
Role of Tiresias
NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchester
(Hamburg Elbphilharmonie)
14, 15, 17 JulyKing Lear – Shakespeare
Role of King Lear
The Grange Festival (Hampshire)

SCHEDULE 2020

1 MarchSalamanca 1936 – newly composed by Peter Copley (full orchestra, chorus and bass soloist)Brighton Youth Orchestra
St Bartholomews Church, Brighton
28 March Cancelled due to Covid-19MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL – Pizzetti
Role of Thomas Becket
Chelsea Opera Group
Queen Elizabeth Hall, London
2, 6, 9 May Cancelled due to Covid-19KÁT’A KABANOVÁ – Janáček
Role of Dikoi
The Metropolitan Opera, New York
6 June Cancelled due to Covid-19HAMLET – Dean
Role of Ghost of Old Hamlet / Gravedigger
Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra
Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
21, 22, 23 August at 12:00, 13:30, 15:30, 17:00Precipice – outdoor immersive poetic sequence Hans Sachs monologueThe Grange Festival, Hampshire
15, 17, 19, 21 September Cancelled due to Covid-19WOZZECK – Berg
Role of Doktor
London Symphony Orchestra
Barbican Hall, London (15/17)
Philharmonie, Luxembourg (19)
Philharmonie de Paris (21)
13 September at 18:00Informal evening of baroque musicSouthover Grange Gardens, Lewes

SCHEDULE 2019

9, 11, 20 , 22, 24 MarchBABYLON – Jörg Widmann  
Role of Priesterkönig
Berlin Staatsoper
24 May KOKOSCHKA’S DOLL – John CaskenThe Maltings, Berwick-upon-Tweed
25 MayKOKOSCHKA’S DOLL – John CaskenChurch of St Michaels and All Angels, Alwinton
19, 22, 25, 27, 29 June, 3 JulyBORIS GODUNOV –  Modest Mussorgsky
Role of Varlaam
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden
19 JulyKOKOSCHKA’S DOLL – John CaskenPetworth Festival
11, 14, 17, 24 AugustOEDIPE – George Enescu
Role of Tiresias
Salzburg Festival
28 October, 2m+e, 9m+e, 16, 23m+e, 30m+e NovemberTHE MIKADO – Arthur Sullivan
Title Role
English National Opera, London Coliseum
11 DecemberSWANSONG – Franz SchubertHarris Music, Preston
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