David Butt Philip (born 12 March 1980) is a British operatic tenor.

Early life and education

He was born and brought up in Wells, Somerset, and as a treble was a chorister at Peterborough Cathedral under Christopher Gower (Peterborough at that time had a boarding house for choristers, attached to The King's School, Peterborough, a state comprehensive school). After Peterborough, he attended Charlottesville High School, Virginia USA for six months before returning to complete his secondary education at the Wells Blue School. After studying politica and philosophy , and then music at the University of Liverpool, Butt Philip studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and sang as a vicar choral in Manchester Cathedral choir and with the BBC Singers. He studied as a baritone on the postgraduate opera course at the Royal Academy of Music and was a member of the Glyndebourne chorus, where he was encouraged by the conductor Vladimir Jurowski among others to change to singing tenor He won Glyndebourne's John Christie Award in 2011 and went on to study as a tenor at the National Opera Studio, London.

Career

From 2012-2014 he was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal ...

, Covent Garden, London. With

The Royal Opera The Royal Opera is a British opera company based in central London, resident at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. Along with the English National Opera, it is one of the two principal opera companies in London. Founded in 1946 as the Cov ...

, Butt Philip has sung First Chevalier/Master of Ceremonies in '' Robert le diable'', Abdallo in ''

Nabucco ''Nabucco'' (, short for Nabucodonosor ; en, " Nebuchadnezzar") is an Italian-language opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal tra ...

'', First Man in Armour in '' Die Zauberflöte'', Master of Ceremonies in '' Gloriana''. He sang the role of Pang in Puccini's ''

Turandot ''Turandot'' (; see below) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, posthumously completed by Franco Alfano in 1926, and set to a libretto in Italian by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni. ''Turandot'' best-known aria is " Nessun dorma", ...

'' in 2014, Servant in '' Capriccio'', Apparition of a Youth in ''

Die Frau Ohne Schatten ' (''The Woman without a Shadow''), Op. 65, is an opera in three acts by Richard Strauss with a libretto by his long-time collaborator, the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It was written between 1911 and either 1915 or 1917. When it premiered at the ...

'' and Commissary in ''

Dialogues des Carmelites ' (''Dialogues of the Carmelites''), FP 159, is an opera in three acts, divided into twelve scenes with linking orchestral interludes, with music and libretto by Francis Poulenc, completed in 1956. The composer's second opera, Poulenc wrote the ...

''. He sang Rodolfo in ''

La Bohème ''La bohème'' (; ) is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions '' quadri'', '' tableaux'' or "images", rather than ''atti'' (acts). composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuse ...

'' with

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in Englis ...

at the London Coliseum in Autumn 2014 and with English Touring Opera in Spring 2015. He sang Grigori in Boris Godunov at the

in March 2016 ("strikingly well sung" according to the

Guardian Guardian usually refers to: * Legal guardian, a person with the authority and duty to care for the interests of another * ''The Guardian'', a British daily newspaper (The) Guardian(s) may also refer to: Places * Guardian, West Virginia, Unite ...

), and Pinkerton in '' Madama Butterfly'' with ENO in Summer 2016. Butt Philip is represented by the agency Ingpen and Williams.

References

Living people English operatic tenors 1980 births People from Wells, Somerset 21st-century British opera singers 21st-century English singers 21st-century British male singers {{UK-opera-singer-stub