Saturday 30 April 2016

English tenor in German debut in Italian opera

Alexander James Edwards
Alexander James Edwards
The tenor Alexander James Edwards has popped up on this blog over the years, whether it be singing Pollione to Nelly Miricioiou's Norma during our lecture recital about Bellini at the Cadogan Hall, in recital with soprano Ilona Domnich and baritone James McOran Campbell or singing Rinuccio in Opera Holland Park's production of Puccini's Il Trittico. He is that relatively rare thing, and English tenor with a distinctly Italianate cast to his voice and technique. 

Edwards will be making his German operatic debut in May 2016, as Foresto in Verdi's Attila at Theater Lubeck, The production is directed by Peter Konwitschny, and conducted by Ryusuke Numajiri with Ernesto Morillo as Attila, Helena Dix as Odabella, Gerard Quinn as Ezio, and Edwards as Foresto. Foresto is the role in which Dennis O'Neil made such a big impression in Covent Garden's first production of Verdi's Attila in 1990. 

Verdi is a composer whose work Edwards has been singing recently including the Duke in Rigoletto for Grange Park Opera, Roderigo in Otello in Liege, Gastone in La Traviata at Covent Garden and Riccardo in Un Ballo in Maschera in Cork. Edwards has also been in the news for other reasons, as he changed his Christian name (from James to Alexander) in 2015. This wasn't to confuse we bloggers; Edwards was adopted and Alexander was the name his birth parents gave him. Edwards is now a supporter of PAC-UK (an organisation offering advice and support for those affected by adoption and permanency) and there is an interesting article on the PAC-UK website.




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