Kenneth Woollam (16 January 1937 – 15 April 2020) was an English operatic tenor. He was principal tenor at

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is a British 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 E ...

for twelve years.

Life

Woollam was born in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city in Cheshire, England, on the River Dee, Wales, River Dee, close to the England–Wales border. With a built-up area population of 92,760 in 2021, it is the most populous settlement in the borough of Cheshire West an ...

in 1937. At

Chester Cathedral Chester Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral and the mother church of the Diocese of Chester. It is located in the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. The cathedral, formerly the abbey church of a Benedictine monastery dedicated to Saint ...

Choir School he was head chorister, and he went on to study at the

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

with

Heddle Nash William Heddle Nash (14 June 189414 August 1961) was an English lyric tenor who appeared in opera and oratorio. He made numerous recordings that are still available on CD reissues. Nash's voice was of the light tenor class known as " tenore di ...

. He was in the chorus of

Glyndebourne Festival Opera Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, e ...

from 1962 to 1964, and was a member of the

BBC Singers The BBC Singers is a professional British chamber choir, employed by the BBC. Its origins can be traced to 1924. One of the six BBC Performing Groups, the BBC Singers are based at the BBC Maida Vale Studios in London. The only full-time profes ...

from 1964 to 1972."Kenneth Woollam, principal tenor of English National Opera for 12 years – obituary"
''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a British daily broadsheet conservative newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed in the United Kingdom and internationally. It was found ...

'', 3 June 2020. Retrieved 15 September 2020."Kenneth Woollam"
''OperaScotland.org''. Retrieved 15 September 2020. In 1972 he joined Sadler's Wells Opera (later renamed

): his debut was as Pierre in the British stage premiere of Prokofiev's ''

War and Peace ''War and Peace'' (; pre-reform Russian: ; ) is a literary work by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy. Set during the Napoleonic Wars, the work comprises both a fictional narrative and chapters in which Tolstoy discusses history and philosophy. An ...

''. He was principal tenor with the company from 1974 until the mid 1980s. Roles included Florestan in Beethoven's ''

Fidelio ''Fidelio'' (; ), originally titled ' (''Leonore, or The Triumph of Marital Love''), Opus number, Op. 72, is the sole opera by German composer Ludwig van Beethoven. The libretto was originally prepared by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of ...

'', the title roles in Wagner's ''

Rienzi ' (''Rienzi, the last of the tribunes''; WWV 49) is an 1842 opera by Richard Wagner in five acts, with the libretto written by the composer after Edward Bulwer-Lytton's novel of the same name (1835). The title is commonly shortened to ''Rienzi' ...

'' and ''

Siegfried Siegfried is a German-language male given name, composed from the Germanic elements ''sig'' "victory" and ''frithu'' "protection, peace". The German name has the Old Norse cognate ''Sigfriðr, Sigfrøðr'', which gives rise to Swedish ''Sigfrid' ...

'', Siegmund in ''

Die Walküre (; ''The Valkyrie''), Wagner-Werk-Verzeichnis, WWV 86B, is the second of the four epic poetry, epic music dramas that constitute Richard Wagner's Literary cycle, cycle ''Der Ring des Nibelungen'' (English: ''The Ring of the Nibelung''). It was ...

'', Calaf in 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 ...

'', and Herod in Strauss's ''

Salome Salome (; , related to , "peace"; ), also known as Salome III, was a Jews, Jewish princess, the daughter of Herod II and princess Herodias. She was granddaughter of Herod the Great and stepdaughter of Herod Antipas. She is known from the New T ...

''. He appeared in a series of operas of

Leoš Janáček Leoš Janáček (, 3 July 1854 – 12 August 1928) was a Czech composer, Music theory, music theorist, Folkloristics, folklorist, publicist, and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian folk music, Moravian and other Slavs, Slavic music, includin ...

conducted by

Charles Mackerras Sir Alan Charles MacLaurin Mackerras (; (17 November 1925 – 14 July 2010) was an American-born Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan. He was long associ ...

. He also appeared occasionally with other opera companies, including

Scottish Opera Scottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies of Scotland. Founded in 1962 and based in Glasgow, it is the largest performing arts organisation in Scotland. History Scottish Op ...

and

Opera North Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays a ...

. Woollam created roles in new operas: ''The Royal Hunt of the Sun'' by Iain Hamilton, ''Toussaint'' by David Blake, and ''A Gentle Spirit'' by

John Tavener Sir John Kenneth Tavener (28 January 1944 – 12 November 2013) was an English composer, known for his extensive output of choral religious music, religious works. Among his best known works are ''The Lamb (Tavener), The Lamb'' (1982), ''The ...

. He made concert appearances which continued after retiring from stage work. In 1985 he became Professor of Singing at the Royal College of Music. In later years he also coached actors, including

Lenny Henry Sir Lenworth George Henry (born 29 August 1958) is a British Jamaicans, British-Jamaican comedian, actor and writer. He gained success as a Stand-up comedy, stand-up comedian and impressionist in the late 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in ' ...

Glenn Close Glenda Veronica Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress. In a career spanning over five decades on Glenn Close on screen and stage, screen and stage, she has received List of awards and nominations received by Glenn Close, numerous ac ...

and

Niels Arestrup Niels Arestrup (; 8 February 1949 – 1 December 2024) was a French-Danish actor, film director and screenwriter. Early life and career Arestrup was born in Paris on 8 February 1949, into a family of modest means; his father was Danish and his ...

. He married Phoebe in 1965; the couple had four daughters. Woollam died in 2020, aged 83.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Woollam, Kenneth 1937 births 2020 deaths Musicians from Chester Alumni of the Royal College of Music Academics of the Royal College of Music English operatic tenors