Sir Thomas Allen; "Se vuol ballare"; LE NOZZE DI FIGARO; Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

This channel is the re-establishment of previous channels that have been sadly terminated.
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Sir Thomas Allen--baritone
Richard Armstrong--conductor
Scottish Chamber Orchestra
1984
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"Sir Thomas Boaz Allen CBE FRCM (born 10 September 1944) is an English operatic baritone. He is widely admired in the opera world for his voice, the versatility of his repertoire, and his acting-leading many to regard him as one of the best lyric baritones of the late 20th century. In October 2011, he was appointed Chancellor of Durham University, succeeding Bill Bryson.
Early years
Born to Florence and Thomas Allen in the mining village of Seaham Harbour, County Durham, in 1944, Thomas Allen studied at Ryhope Grammar School from 1955 to 1964, becoming captain of his house and later head boy while also doing well in sports, such as in athletics, rugby and especially golf.[1]
It was during his time at school that his singing voice was first observed by the then Physics master, Denis Weatherley, himself a well-known baritone in the county and especially renowned for Northumberland songs. Weatherley would then go on to be Allen's first tutor, training the young baritone during lunch breaks.
Allen's initial ambition was to be a doctor but this was later abandoned when he won a place at the Royal College of Music in 1964, where he studied with Hervey Alan for four years, specialising in oratorio and Lieder until 1968.[2]
In 1971, he made his Covent Garden debut as Donald in Billy Budd and he joined the company the following year. His solo Glyndebourne Festival debut was as Papageno in 1973.
On 7 August 1974, during his BBC Proms performance, Allen collapsed at the end of his second solo, tried to recover for his third but collapsed again and was taken from the stage (he was replaced by Patrick McCarthy).[3]
He returned as Figaro in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (1974), Guglielmo (1975) and Don Giovanni (1977) and it was during this time that he was hailed by one music critic as the finest English baritone since Sir Charles Santley.[4] He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1981 as Papageno. He left Covent Garden to become a freelance singer in 1979 although he still remains a guest artist with the company.[4] He sang the title role in the British stage premiere of Busoni's Doktor Faust for the English National Opera in 1986 (a performance which was also commended in the 1986 Laurence Olivier Awards when the production won the award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera),[5] while his debut at the Salzburg Festival was as Ulisse in Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria in 1985. His Chicago debut was Rossini's Figaro in The Barber of Seville in 1989.[6]
Present work
More recently, Allen has performed Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus, Don Alfonso, Ulisse and Don Giovanni at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Don Giovanni at La Scala, Yeletsky (in The Queen of Spades), Sharpless (in Madama Butterfly), and the title role in Sweeney Todd at the Royal Opera House, Eisenstein at the Glyndebourne Festival, Don Alfonso at the Salzburg Easter and Summer Festivals, Forester (The Cunning Little Vixen) at the San Francisco Opera and Beckmesser (in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) at the Metropolitan Opera in New York.
In 1989, he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE). In 1999, he was knighted. Both awards were for his services to opera. In 1998 he was named a member of the Royal Opera's Opera Advisory Board, the first time a singer had been given such an appointment.[7]
Allen has now performed at Covent Garden for over 35 years, recently having played in total 50 roles with the company, with Faninal from Richard Strauss' Der Rosenkavalier marking his 50th role in December 2009. The 25th anniversary of his debut at the Metropolitan Opera was celebrated in 2006. Allen has also been revealed as being the model and inspiration in developing the now famous character of Billy Elliot in the play of the same name by Lee Hall.[9]
On 11 October 2011 Allen was appointed Chancellor of Durham University by the University's Convocation, to serve from 1 January 2012 in succession to Bill Bryson.[10] His first concert with the university took place in Durham Cathedral on 1 June 2013, appearing alongside over 100 student performers.[11] On 27 January 2012, Allen marked his 40th anniversary at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, singing the rôle of Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte. On 4 November 2021, Durham University announced Allen would step down from his role as Chancellor in July 2022.[12]
In 2015, he sang the rôle of Baron Zeta in the Metropolitan Opera's production of Franz Lehár's operetta The Merry Widow, which he reprised at the Met in 2017.[13]"; Wikipedia (edited)

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Excellent!

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