John Pringle (baritone)

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John Pringle

AM (born 17 October 1938) is a retired Australian operatic baritone. He sang leading and supporting roles with Opera Australia and its predecessors for 41 years (1967–2008), and with some overseas companies. He was strongly associated with roles by Mozart, such as Figaro and Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro; the title role and Leporello in Don Giovanni; Guglielmo and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte; and Papageno in The Magic Flute
.

Biography

John Pringle started his adult life as a pharmacist for five years, with a degree from the University of Melbourne. At the age of 28 music took over[1] and in 1967 he won the Melbourne Sun Aria award.[2] He had been singing in some amateur shows around Melbourne, and used his friendship with John Cargher to gain some valuable contacts in the opera world.[3]

His debut was in the

Princess Theatre, Melbourne,[1] alongside singers such as Robert Gard and June Bronhill.[4]
Gard also appeared in Pringle's final performance in 2008.

In 1973 he was part of the company's historic first season at the

War and Peace
, but he sang Prince Andrei in later productions of that opera.

John Pringle's repertoire included the title roles in

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk (Shostakovich); The Tales of Hoffmann (Offenbach); and operas by Janáček, Cilea, Sullivan, Massenet and Gounod. He also appeared in musicals, such as Melvyn Morrow's and John Mallord's one-man show Postcards from Provence, based on stories by Alphonse Daudet.[5]

He sang at

Teatro Regio in Turin, San Diego Opera
; the Paris Autumn Festival and the Paris Theatre Musical; in Cologne and Brussels, and with the Australian state opera companies and symphony orchestras.

At the age of 65 in 2003, he learned what he considered his most difficult role, that of Doctor Schön/Jack the Ripper in Alban Berg's Lulu.[1][3] His last major role was in Melbourne on 14 December 2007, as Leporello in Don Giovanni, a role with which he had become strongly associated. His final performance was in Sydney on 24 October 2008, a week after he turned 70, as Jaroslav Prus in Janáček's The Makropoulos Secret, in a production directed by Neil Armfield. After the performance, he was presented with the Opera Australia Trophy. Adrian Collette, CEO of Opera Australia, said: "John Pringle is one of the artists on which our company has been built. He has been there almost from the beginning and has stuck with us through thick and thin, a great actor, a magnificent singer and, above all, a real ensemble player loved and admired by colleagues and audiences alike."[1]

Honours

John Pringle was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1988.[6]

In 2004 he won the

Helpmann Award for Best Male Performer in a Supporting Role in an Opera (Alban Berg's Lulu).[7]

In 2007 he won a Green Room Award[8] for his performance as Leporello in Mozart's Don Giovanni, against such competition as Teddy Tahu Rhodes, who sang the title role in the same performances.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e LSM Newswire
  2. ^ The Dictionary of Performing Arts in Australia
  3. ^ a b c Sunday Profile with Monica Attard, 6 November 2008
  4. ^ PM: Opera lovers mourn Bronhill’s passing
  5. ^ The Essgee Creative Team
  6. ^ It's an Honour: AM
  7. ^ Helpmann Award winners 2004 Archived 23 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  8. ^ 2007 Green Room Awards
  9. ^ Green Room Award nominations 2007 Archived 24 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine

Sources

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