Anthony Rolfe Johnson 1940-2010

[pjme]

R.I.P. ... he suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

From Wikipedia:

Anthony Rolfe Johnson (5 November 1940–21 July 2010[1]) was an English tenor singer.

Born in Tackley, he studied with Ellis Keeler and Vera Rosza at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. He first appeared in opera in the chorus and in small roles at the Glyndebourne Festival between 1972 and 1976. His major operatic debut was in Iolanthe in 1973 with the English Opera Group.

In the course of a long and varied career he performed in Handel's oratorios, sang the role of Evangelist in Bach's St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion, and sang solos in Haydn's Die Jahreszeiten and Die Schöpfung. Operas he recorded include Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Gilbert & Sullivan's The Mikado, Mozart's Idomeneo and La Clemenza di Tito, and Britten's Peter Grimes as well as appearing in the latter's War Requiem, amongst many others. He performed much early music, including Monteverdi's Ulysses and Orfeo.

He performed at the world's major opera houses, including the English National Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the Monnaie in Brussels, La Scala, Milan, the Metropolitan Opera, New York, the Vienna State Opera, and the Paris Opera.

He sang Polixenes in the world premiere of Philippe Boesman's adaptation of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.

Aside from opera, he appeared in concert with the world's major symphony orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic and Boston Philharmonic, and conductors, such as Mstislav Rostropovich and Seiji Ozawa. He also gavesong recitals with Graham Johnson, many of which were recorded; he was a founder member of Graham Johnson's The Songmakers' Almanac. In 1988 he re-launched the Gregynog Festival, remaining its artistic director until 2006.

He was made a CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1992.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKLwc-jqryQ

[False_Dmitry]

Oh wretched, wretched news

The light has gone out on the pre-eminent tenor of the post-Pears generation in Britain.  A charming, erudite, hard-working man who set himself the highest targets - and consistently hit them.  I do hope that he did not suffer.

[kishnevi]

I have the Peter Grimes recording, which btw was one of the performances EMI re-released in its latest budget opera series (the liner notes and libretto are on an extra CD in PDF)--I have it in the previous budget re-release. 

I also have him in at least one Handel recording (Ode for St. Cecilia's Day)--possibly more, I'll have to look through my CDs to see.

I thought he was younger than he actually was.

[Marc]

So, this leaves one of my fave modern recordings of Mozart's Idomeneo (2002) already with 3 of the main musicians dead: Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Charles Mackerras and Anthony Rolfe Johnson.

In the early nineties, he was also part of another great Idomeneo performance/recording, by John Eliot Gardiner, singing the title role.

I heard Rolfe Johnson for the first time on the radio, in the arias of Bach's Passions, conducted by Harnoncourt (Palm Sundays, Concertgebouw, Amsterdam).

I've always liked his voice; he proved to be a good Evangelist, too.

Heard and saw him live in concert with Erik van Nevel's baroque orchestra Concerto 91 in January 1998, together with Emma Kirkby, Michael Chance and Harry van der Kamp, singing Händel and Bach. That was quite a lovely concert to start the year!

Good memories .... rest in peace.

[knight66]

A great shame, he was a really special singer. I sang in chorus during quite a few of his performances, he was always professional, knew exactly what he was up to, sang beautifully and with expression. Here is a favourite track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOOJ1rrkCGg

Mike