Alan Sievewright (12 May 1934 – 23 January 2007) was a British designer, producer and opera impresario. In collaboration with his one time production partner Denny Dayviss, they produced "a treasury of operatic performances that those who saw them would never forget." A larger than life character, he helped launch the careers of many young artists.

Life and career

Sievewright was born in Edinburgh, but his family moved to London when he was a small boy. He began his career as a designer in London in the 1950s, training first with Balmain in Paris and later designing haute couture for high society and for Rank films and such productions as ''

Masterpiece Classic ''Masterpiece'' (formerly known as ''Masterpiece Theatre'') is a drama anthology television series produced by WGBH Boston. It premiered on PBS on January 10, 1971. The series has presented numerous acclaimed British productions. Many of these ...

'' (1971), '' The Young Ones'' (1961) and '' The Rebel'' (1961). Switching career in the early 1970s he began to independently produce semi-staged performances of opera in London with Denny Dayviss. One their most notable productions was Puccini's ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' ( ; see #Origin and pronunciation of the name, below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. Puccini left the opera unfinished at the time of his death in 1924; it ...

'' using the complete ending which

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had composed after Puccini died before the opera's completion. The 1982 performance at the

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featured

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as Turandot and

Franco Bonisolli Franco Bonisolli (May 25, 1938 – October 30, 2003) was an Italian operatic tenor, particularly associated with the Italian repertory, notably as Manrico and Calaf. Life and career Bonisolli was born in Rovereto, Italy. He studied with Alf ...

as Calaf. After pursuing

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to ask her to record a version of ''

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'', she directed him to

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who subsequently recorded it for Sievewright. As he became more successful he attracted prominent members of the British and international arts scene to his flat in

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, London where the threw parties and whose guests included

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and

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. In the 1990s Sievewright teamed up with Chris Hunt of

Iambic Productions Iambic Productions Limited is an independent television production company specializing in the fields of music, arts and drama founded by producer Chris Hunt in 1988. The company was a part of production and distribution Group DCD Media since its ...

and Richard Price of Prime Time to create ''OnLine Classics'' - a series of documentaries about stage, screen and opera - a collaboration which went on to win many awards. He was later elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, commonly known as the Royal Society of Arts (RSA), is a learned society that champions innovation and progress across a multitude of sectors by fostering creativity, s ...

. Sievewright died at the age of 72 after a long illness. His life partner, the musicologist Jeremy Parsons, had predeceased him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sievewright, Alan 1934 births 2007 deaths 20th-century British designers British impresarios British television producers Opera managers 20th-century British businesspeople