Alastair Miles

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Alastair Miles
Born (1961-07-11) 11 July 1961 (age 62)
Harrow, England
EducationGuildhall School of Music
Royal Academy of Music
Occupation(s)opera singer, bass
AwardsDecca-Kathleen Ferrier Award (1986)
John Christie Award (1987)

Alastair Miles (born 11 July 1961, Harrow, England) is a British operatic and concert bass who has had an international career since the late 1980s.[1]

Biography

Education

Alastair Miles was educated at

Guildhall School of Music under Trevor Wye, Peter Lloyd and Edward Beckett. He became an orchestral player and taught at Stowe School and Chetham's School of Music before embarking on his vocal career. From 1982 to 1985 he sang as a Lay Clerk in the choir of St. Albans Cathedral under the direction of Stephen Darlington. Having studied with bass-baritone Richard Standen whilst at the Guildhall, he was prompted by English National Opera baritone Geoffrey Chard, a near-neighbour of his parents, to have lessons with Bruce Boyce
. It was while he was with Boyce that he decided on a career in opera, and in 1986 won a place at the National Opera Studio.

Awards

Alastair Miles won the 1986 Decca-Kathleen Ferrier Award at Wigmore Hall and the 1987 John Christie Award[permanent dead link] at the Glyndebourne Festival. His recording of Mendelssohn's Elijah, in which he sang the title role, won Gramophone magazine's Best Choral Award for 1993.

Career

Alastair Miles is well known for bel canto roles and is considered an ideal Verdi bass.[2] He has been called 'the finest bass of his generation'.[3]

Operatic roles

Alastair Miles has sung at the

Bayerische Staatsoper (Giorgio, Raimondo, title role in Handel's Saul, Zoroastro in Orlando); San Francisco Opera (Giorgio, Raimondo and Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia); Amsterdam (Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, Raimondo), Madrid (Philip II in Don Carlo, Raimondo and Muley-Hassem in Emilio Arrieta's La Conquista di Granata); Seville (Mephistopheles in Gounod's Faust); Palermo (Walter in Luisa Miller); Pesaro (Le Gouverneur in Rossini's Le Compte Ory) and La Scala
, Milan (Melisso in Alcina and Lord Sidney in Il Viaggio a Rheims).

He regularly appears with all the UK opera companies. Roles for

La Sonnambula), Elmiro (Rossini's Otello), Banquo (Macbeth), Brogni (La Juive), Poliferno (Niobe, regina di Tebe
) and Dom Juam de Sylva in
Donizetti
's Dom Sebastien.

Concert performance

Alastair Miles has appeared with many conductors and orchestras including Giulini, Harnoncourt, Mazur,[8] Muti, Chung, Rattle, Runnicles, Masur, Gergiev, Gardiner, Norrington, Davis and Dohnanyi. Recent projects have included performances of La Damnation de Faust, The Dream of Gerontius and Handel's Messiah with Davis and the LSO, Schumann's Faustszenen with Harnoncourt and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under Tilson-Thomas.

Recording

His discography numbers more than 80 recordings including Verdi's Don Carlos,[9] the songs of Richard Strauss,[10] and the solo CD Great Operatic Arias for Chandos. He works with Opera Rara to bring neglected nineteenth century Italian and French Opera to a wider public. On that label he has recorded Ambroise Thomas' opera comique, La Cour de Célimène.

References

  1. ^ Davies, Margaret (January 2000). "People: Alastair Miles Interviewed by Margaret Davies". Opera. 51 (1): 23–35.
  2. ^ Stevenson, Joseph. "Alastair Miles biography". AllMusic.
  3. ^ Jeal, Erica. "Review, Prom 3, 2001". The Guardian.
  4. ^ Loomis, George. "Three Tudor Queens". New York Times. Retrieved 13 September 2013.
  5. ^ Clark, Andrew. "Anna Bolena". Financial Times. Retrieved 21 October 2013.
  6. ^ Tanner, Michael. "Masterpiece". The Spectator. Retrieved 28 May 2011.
  7. ^ Arblaster, Anthony (19 October 2012). "Don Giovanni". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 21 October 2012.
  8. ^ Mabille, Olivier. "Un Prophète aux Champs-Elysées". Res Musica. Retrieved 14 January 2009.
  9. ^ Clements, Andrew. "Review, Verdi Don Carlos (Chandos),". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 January 2010.
  10. ^ Shirley, Hugo. "Review: Richard Strauss: The Complete Songs Vol. 4". Musical Criticism. Retrieved 1 February 2009.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alastair_Miles&oldid=1219517594"