Simon Keenlyside

Biography

Simon Keenlyside is a respected Uk baritone, concert and recital singer. His tone of voice is recognized by its friendliness, having the ability to take on an advantage for dramatic lines. As students at Cambridge he researched zoology, but continued to study performing with John Cameron in the Royal North University of Music in Manchester. While learning there, he sang the best male part of Lescaut in Puccini’s opera Manon. His professional debut was using the Hamburg Condition Opera in 1988, as Count number Almaviva in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. From then on, he was involved as an associate from the Scottish Opera, where he continued to be until 1994. Throughout that period he was praised for his looks as Britten’s Billy Budd, Rossini’s Figaro, Marcello in Puccini’s La Bohème, Danilow in Lehar’s The Merry Widow, Belcore in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’Amore, and Mozart’s Papageno. He debuted at Covent Backyard in 1989 as Silvio in Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and consequently as Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così lover Tutte. The years 1995 – 1997 noticed him make main debuts: At Glyndebourne in 1995, once again as Guglielmo, so when Pagapeno under Riccardo Muti at La Scala. In 1996 he made an appearance in the Metropolitan, once again as Belcore, and in SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA in 1997 as Debussy’s Pelléas. He produced a solid impression performing the title part inside a revival of Ambroise Thomas’ once ubiquitous opera Hamlet, mostly of the late Passionate operas wherein the name role is perfect for a baritone. He was praised for having captured the inward struggle of Shakespeare’s most complicated protagonist. He offers since made an appearance in Paris (Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Guglielmo in Così lover tutte), at La Scala in Milan (Count number Almaviva) in Le Nozze di Figaro led by Muti. The SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA Opera offered his U.S. opera debut in 1993. He also worked well in Sydney and Berlin (name part, Il Barbiere di Siviglia), Geneva (name part, Hamlet), Ferrara (name part of Don Giovanni) under Claudio Abbado, with the Royal Opera Home Covent Backyard (Marcello in La Bohème) under Bernard Haitink, in addition to Guglielmo, Belcore and Count number Almaviva. He also came back to La Scala (Die Zauberflöte, Gluck’s Armide) also to Paris (Dandini in La Cenerentola, Yeletsky within the Queen of Spades), and in 2000 produced his Vienna Condition Opera debut (La Bohème), and sings the name part of Monteverdi’s Orfeo in Brussels. He became a member of the “genuine performances” motion in opera in 1998-1999, when he toured with conductor Rene Jacobs as Monteverdi’s Orfeo. Various other acclaimed assignments are Yeletsky (Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades), Mercutio (Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette, Wolfram, Dandini (Rossini’s La Cenerentola), and Ned Keene (Britten’s Peter Grimes). He often appears over the concert stage with such orchestras and conductors because the Israel Philharmonic under Mehta, The Chamber Orchestra of European countries the Berlin Philharmonic with Abbado, the town of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Rattle, the London Symphony Orchestra led by Davis, with Boulez as well as the Vienna Philharmonic. He provides sung recitals in the best European metropolitan areas and celebrations, and in NY. On recordings, he provides sung the elements of Don Giovanni and Ned Keene. For the Hyperion label he was chosen to sing five amounts of their exceptional task to record the entire Lieder of Franz Schubert, and in addition documented a two-disc group of Robert Schumann tracks, the entire Odes and Welcome Tracks of Purcell, a job in Chabrier’s imperfect opera Briseis, the Duruflé Requiem, and the entire Purcell realizations by Benjamin Britten. Furthermore, both Royal Philharmonic Culture as well as the Critics Group named him Vocalist of the entire year in 1995.

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