Falstaff bryn terfel biography
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If it happens - and the prospect of hearing the WNO chorus in this great choral opera is mouthwatering, too - it will be a great operatic coup for WNO, the WMC and Wales. After studies at London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, he attracted international attention in 1989 when he won the Lieder prize at the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition.
Cronfa Syr Bryn Terfel will offer scholarships and bursaries; support projects and commissions that celebrate the Welsh language and culture; and establish a new biennial international song competition in which students will sing at least one song in Welsh and one in their own language.
Bryn Terfel
The Welsh baritone Bryn Terfel, CBE (born November 9, 1965) is one of the best-known contemporary opera and concert singers.
His DG discography continued to grow with such diverse releases as We’ll Keep a Welcome, Bryn Terfel Sings Favourites, Simple Gifts, Silent Noon, Tutto Mozart!,Bad Boys and Homeward Bound.
Falstaff is unique in Verdi's output, a final burst of laughter from a semi-retired master at the peak of his powers.
Two seasons ago, he sang in a new production - his first - of The Flying Dutchman at the Wales Millennium Centre, now he is lording it as Verdi's gluttonous, ageing lothario, and it is whispered that he may be persuaded to sing his first Hans Sachs in the company's first-ever production, two seasons hence, of Wagner's The Mastersingers of Nuremberg.
Since then, his operatic repertoire has grown to encompass the title roles in Boris Godunov, Der fliegende Holländer, Falstaff and Gianni Schicchi; Wotan in Das Rheingold and Die Walküre; Méphistophélès in Faust; the four villains in Les contes d’Hoffmann; Balstrode in Peter Grimes; Wolfram in Tannhäuser; Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress; and Scarpia in Tosca, among others.
Bryn Terfel achieves seemingly effortlessly what many other classical artists attempt with less success - the 'crossover' album. For the 150th anniversary of the composer's birth, the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, has just staged new productions by Luca Ronconi of the entire triptych, with mixed results.
Bryn Terfel biography
Since his stage debut with Welsh National Opera in 1990, singing Guglielmo in Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte, he quickly went on to build up his operatic repertoire.
Initially, Terfel was associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Leporello, but he has expanded his repertoire to include heavier roles, including Wagner.
Terfel was born Bryn Terfel Jones in Pantglas, North Wales, the son of a farmer (he knew of another singer named Bryn Jones, so Terfel chose Bryn Terfel as his professional name).
At the concert the following day, meanwhile, he and tenor Andrea Bocelli gave a heartfelt rendition of “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel. Terfel went on to make his début as Figaro at the Vienna State Opera.
Puccini at La Scala is invariably a musical treat, but as a musico-dramatic happening, this Trittico couldn't hold a candle to WNO's enthralling Falstaff.
Terfel had an interest in and talent for music from a very young age. Billed as "Bryn Terfel's Faenol Festival," it turned into an annual music festival featuring internationally famous opera singers as well as popular Welsh artists.
As a youngster, three years after winning the Lieder prize at the 1989 Cardiff Singer of the World, he appeared as Master Ford in a revival of Peter Stein's 1988 WNO production of Falstaff, and it is this 20-year-old but timeless staging that is revived for Terfel's Falstaff. It is a classic, a far worthier framework for this larger-than-life Sir John than Graham Vick's garish, poster-coloured, Tellytubbyish version for the Royal Opera.
Nothing is exaggerated, and Terfel gets big laughs from the smallest gestures: a raised eyebrow, or a goggle-eyed ogle at Mistress Ford's plumptious bosom.