Michael Rayner

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For the acting Auditor General of Canada, see Michael H. Rayner. For the Australian press photographer, see Michael Rayner (photographer). For the Australian architect and urban designer, see Michael Rayner (architect).

Rayner as Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore alongside Pamela Field as Josephine, 1973

Michael Rayner (6 December 1932 – 13 July 2015)

Savoy Operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company
.

Rayner worked in his family's motor car company before eventually pursuing classical singing and, in his mid-30s, he trained at the

Birmingham School of Music. He then joined Welsh National Opera's "Opera for All", to tour for two years. He played more than a dozen Gilbert and Sullivan
roles with the D'Oyly Carte continuously from 1971 to 1979, also recording most of these roles with the company.

Afterwards, he had a brief government service career and sang on the concert stage. He worked with several more Gilbert and Sullivan companies for three more decades, playing some of his old D'Oyly Carte roles and more than a dozen new ones. He also appeared with Hinge and Bracket and on cruise ships, and he performed his own autobiographical musical show.

Early life and career

Rayner was born in

Madam Butterfly, Frank in Die Fledermaus[8] and the title role in Eugene Onegin.[1]

Rayner joined the

Utopia Limited and sang Dr. Tannhäuser in the single concert performance of The Grand Duke. Later that year, he dropped the role of Counsel in Trial and added the role of Lieutenant of the Tower in The Yeomen of the Guard. He also exchanged the role of Cox for Sergeant Bouncer, in Cox and Box, and stepped up from Guron to Arac in Ida.[8][10] Rayner participated in the company's tours of North America and Italy, and its Silver Jubilee Royal Command Performance of H.M.S. Pinafore at Windsor Castle during his tenure.[3][11]

Rayner's roles recorded with D'Oyly Carte included Pish-Tush (1973), Strephon (1974), Counsel (1975), Mr. Goldbury (1976), Dr. Tannhäuser (1976), Giuseppe (1977), Bouncer (1978) and Lieutenant (1979). He also played Corcoran in the company's 1973 video production of H.M.S. Pinafore.[8][12]

Later years

Rayner at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, 1998

After a 1977 heart attack, Rayner found full-time touring to be difficult, and he eventually left the D'Oyly Carte in 1979. He initially worked in the

Savoy operas.[8][14] He also appeared on cruise ships[1] and with Hinge and Bracket[15] and sang for many years with the Derby Cathedral Choir.[3][11]

From 1996 to 2008, he played several roles with the National Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company and other companies at the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton, and those roles are preserved on video and available from the Festival and excerpts with Rayner from the Festival were broadcast on Songs of Praise in 1997. He also performed an autobiographical musical show called "In the Carte".[3][16] At the Festival in 1999, soprano Jean Hindmarsh and Rayner gave the world premiere performance of "Reflect, my child", a song cut from H.M.S. Pinafore before the opera opened in 1878 and reconstructed in 1998.[17][18]

Rayner lived most of his life in Derby, where he remarried, in 1984, to Joy Neal,[19] a mezzo-soprano who also performed with Derby Opera, G&S Unlimited and Grim's Dyke Opera.[3][11] Rayner loved sports, especially football, and played golf.[4][6] Another hobby was cooking, and he and Joy enjoyed hosting dinner parties in later years at their home in Ilkeston.[7]

He died in Derby Hospital, aged 82, after many years of declining health and a short illness.[1]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Mackie, David. "Obituaries: Michael Rayner", Gilbert and Sullivan News, Vol. V, No. 9, Autumn/Winter 2015, pp. 17–18, The Gilbert and Sullivan Society
  2. ^ Howard T Rayner: England & Wales, Marriage Index, 1916–2005, Ancestry.com (pay to view)
  3. ^ a b c d e f "Michael Rayner, singer – obituary", The Telegraph, 3 September 2015
  4. ^ a b "Michael Rayner", The Savoyard, Vol. 12, Issue 3, January 1974, p. 7, reprinted in part here: "Michael Rayner", Memories of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, accessed 20 July 2015
  5. ^ Sylvia I S Groome: England & Wales, Marriage Index, 1916–2005, Ancestry.com (pay to view)
  6. ^ a b Ayre, p. 339
  7. ^ a b Peddy, Chris. "Friends and family pay their tributes to Derby singer Michael" Archived 14 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Derby Telegraph, 20 July 2015
  8. ^ a b c d Stone, David. "Michael Rayner", Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, 27 August 2001, accessed 20 July 2015
  9. ^ "Patricia Leonard: principal contralto of the D'Oyly Carte opera". The Times, 22 February 2010 (subscription required)
  10. ^ Rollins and Witts, 3rd supplement, p. 28
  11. ^ a b c "Michael Rayner, Principal Bass Baritone", Grim's Dyke Opera programmes distributed at Grim's Dyke in 2008
  12. ^ Shepherd, Marc. "The 1973 D'Oyly Carte Pinafore Video", Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, 12 April 2009, accessed 20 July 2015; and Rayner, Michael", Gilbert and Sullivan Discography, accessed 20 July 2015
  13. ^ Stone, David. Jane Metcalfe, Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, 11 February 2002, accessed 14 November 2009
  14. ^ a b "Michael Rayner", Sir Arthur Sullivan Society Magazine, issue No: 88, Summer 2015, p. 32
  15. ^ Dunford, Paul. "You Celebrities Know Who You Are" Archived 5 August 2015 at the Wayback Machine, Hinge & Bracket – A Celebration, 2004, accessed 20 July 2015
  16. ^ "In the Carte by Michael Rayner", International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival, 21 August 1998, accessed 20 July 2015
  17. ^ "Gilbert & Sullivan Rarities: Music from the Cutting-Room Floor" Archived 3 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Festival review, Day 2: 29 July 1999, accessed 4 November 2008
  18. ^ Miller, Bruce and Helga J. Perry. "Lost Pinafore Song Found" Archived 16 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Gilbert and Sullivan Archive, 15 April 1999, accessed 4 November 2008
  19. ^ Michael J Rayner: England & Wales, Marriage Index, 1916–2005, Ancestry.com (pay to view)

References

  • Ayre, Leslie (1972). The Gilbert & Sullivan Companion. London: W.H. Allen & Co Ltd.
    ISBN 0-396-06634-8
    .
  • Rollins, Cyril; R. John Witts (1962). The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in Gilbert and Sullivan Operas: A Record of Productions, 1875–1961. London: Michael Joseph.
    OCLC 504581419
    .

External links
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