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Thomas Allen

Michael Berkeley's guest is baritone Thomas Allen. His musical choices include opera from Humperdinck, Wagner and Monteverdi, as well as pieces by Schubert and Frank Bridge.

Michael Berkeley's guest today is Sir Thomas Allen, whose trajectory from modest origins in the North East of England to international acclaim as one of the finest operatic baritones of our time in part inspired the story of 'Billy Elliot'. After studying singing at the Royal College of Music he made his professional operatic debut as Rossini's Figaro over 40 years ago, and has gone on to sing many leading roles in a range of works from Mozart to Benjamin Britten at the world's great opera houses and festivals. He is widely admired in the operatic world for his beautiful voice, versatility in repertoire, and supreme acting ability. This season his roles have included Don Alfonso (Cosi fan tutte), Faninal (Der Rosenkavalier), Gianni Schicchi and Beckmesser (Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg).

Thomas Allen's private musical passions, as revealed to Michael Berkeley, encompass three operatic excerpts - the Overture to Humperdinck's 'Hansel and Gretel', which he loves both for its childlike simplicity and Wagnerian overtones; the Prelude to Act III of Wagner's 'Die Meistersinger', and the final scene of Monteverdi's 'The Return of Ulysses' in Jeffrey Tate's recording of the controversial arrangement by Hans Werner Henze, in which Allen himself sings the role of Ulysses. There's also an excerpt from Schubert's great Fantasia in F minor for piano duet, and the 'Moonlight' episode from Frank Bridge's tone-poem 'The Sea', which reminds him of his own origins in a North-Eastern fishing village.

1 hour

Last on

Sun 27 Jun 2010 12:00
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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Music Played

  • Michael Berkeley

    The Wakeful Poet (Music from Chaucer) (pub OUP)

    Performer: Beaux-Arts Brass Quintet

    • BBQ BBQ 003.

  • Engelbert Humperdinck

    Hansel and Gretel Overture

    Performers: Dresden Staatskapelle Orchestra/Sir Colin Davis

    • Humperdinck Hansel and Gretel.
    • PHILIPS 438 013-2.

  • Franz Schubert

    Fantasia in F Minor, D. 940 (excerpt)

    Performers: Alfred Brendel and Evelyne Crochet (piano duet)

    • Alfred Brendel.
    • VOX BOX CD3X 3041.

  • Richard Wagner - Die Meistersinger von NΓΌrnberg Prelude to Act III

    Performers: Bavarian Radio SO/Rafael Kubelik

  • Frank Bridge

    The Sea (part three: Moonlight)

    Performers: RLPO/Charles Groves

    • Bridge The Sea.
    • EMI CDM 566855-2.

  • Claudio Monteverdi

    Il Ritorno d'Ulisse (Act 2, scene 12 [final scene])

    Arranger: Henze Performers: Thomas Allen (Ulysses), Kathleen Kuhlmann (Penelope), Vienna RSO/Jeffrey Tate

    • Monteverdi arr Henze Il Ritorno d'Ulisse.
    • ORFEO C528003.

Broadcast

  • Sun 27 Jun 2010 12:00
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 3

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