Nicholas Clapton (born 16 September 1955) is an English

countertenor A countertenor (also contra tenor) is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is equivalent to that of the female contralto or mezzo-soprano voice types, generally extending from around G3 to D5 or E5, although a sopranist (a ...

, singing-teacher and author.

Life and career

Clapton was born in

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engl ...

, England and read music at

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College ( ) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by Bishop of Winchester William of Waynflete. It is one of the wealthiest Oxford colleges, as of 2022, and ...

. He studied singing with David Mason and Diane Forlano, and made his professional debut at the

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

in 1984. In the following year, he was a double prize-winner at the Concurso "Francisco Viñas" in

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

, and in 1987 won the English Song Award. Clapton is particularly known for countertenor roles in contemporary opera, the heroic

castrato A castrato (Italian; : castrati) is a male singer who underwent castration before puberty in order to retain a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto. The voice can also occur in one who, due to an endocrino ...

repertoire of the eighteenth century, and romantic art song (in partnership with the pianist Jennifer Partridge). He has performed in major

opera house An opera house is a theater building used for performances of opera. Like many theaters, it usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, backstage facilities for costumes and building sets, as well as offices for the institut ...

s and

concert hall A concert hall is a cultural building with a stage (theatre), stage that serves as a performance venue and an auditorium filled with seats. This list does not include other venues such as sports stadia, dramatic theatres or convention ...

s around the world, and has given over forty world premières (including six operas). Unusual events in his career have included: a

Purcell Henry Purcell (, rare: ; September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer of Baroque music, most remembered for his more than 100 songs; a tragic opera, ''Dido and Aeneas''; and his incidental music to a version of Shakespeare's ...

concert in that composer's tercentenary year in a former Palace of Culture in

Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...

; playing three different reincarnations of the great castrato

Farinelli Farinelli (; 24 January 1705 – 16 September 1782) was the stage name of Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi (), a celebrated Italian castrato singer of the 18th century and one of the greatest singers in the history of opera. Farinelli ...

; and accompanying himself on the

castanets Castanets, also known as ''clackers'' or ''palillos'', are a percussion instrument ( idiophonic), used in Spanish, Calé, Moorish, Ottoman, Greek, Italian, Mexican, Sephardic, Portuguese, Filipino, Brazilian, and Swiss music. In ancient ...

Simon Holt Simon Holt (born 21 February 1958) is an English composer. Biography Simon Holt was born in Bolton, Lancashire on 21 February 1958. Educated at Bolton School, Holt immersed himself in organ, piano and visual art during his sixth form years. ...

's ''Six Caprices''. In concert and oratorio, as well as major works by

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

and Handel, Clapton's repertoire includes

Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, essayist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most o ...

's ''

Wesendonck Lieder , WWV 91, is the common name of a set of five songs for female voice and piano by Richard Wagner, (''Five Poems for a Female Voice''). He set five poems by Mathilde Wesendonck while he was working on his opera ''Tristan und Isolde''. The songs ...

'',

Elgar Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet, (; 2 June 1857 – 23 February 1934) was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestr ...

's ''

Sea Pictures ''Sea Pictures, Op. 37'' is a song cycle for contralto and orchestra by Edward Elgar. It consists of settings of a poems by five different authors. A version for piano was often performed by Elgar. Many mezzo-sopranos have sung the piece. The ...

'',

Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

' ''

Five Mystical Songs The ''Five Mystical Songs'' are a musical composition by English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872–1958), written between 1906 and 1911. The work sets four poems ("Easter" divided into two parts) by seventeenth-century Welsh poet and Angli ...

'' and the Verdi ''Requiem''. Having taught for several years at

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

in London, Nicholas Clapton was also a professor of Singing at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

until 2015. He gave classes at the

Dartington Dartington is a village in Devon, England. Its population is 876. The electoral ward of ''Dartington'' includes the surrounding area and had a population of 1,753 at the 2011 census. It is located to the west of the River Dart, south of Dar ...

International Summer School for over twenty years, and until 2013 was a visiting professor at the Zeneakadémia in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

. He has also taught in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

and the Netherlands. His 2004 biography of

Alessandro Moreschi Alessandro Moreschi (11 November 1858 – 21 April 1922) was an Italian chorister of the late 19th century and the only castrato to make solo recordings. Early life Alessandro Moreschi was born on 11 November 1858 to Luigi Lorenzo Moreschi (1840 ...

was chosen by the ''Tablet'' magazine as one of its Books of the Year for 2005; (it was re-issued in a larger second edition as ''Moreschi and the Voice of the Castrato'' in 2008). In June 2005 Clapton became a Doctor of Liberal Arts of the Liszt Ferenc Music University,

. In 2006 he presented the documentary ''Castrato'' for

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

television, and curated the exhibition ''Handel and the Castrati'' at the

Handel House Museum Handel Hendrix House (previously Handel & Hendrix in London) is a museum in Mayfair, London, dedicated to the lives and works of the German-born British baroque composer George Frideric Handel and the American rock singer-guitarist Jimi Hendrix, ...

, London. His second book, ''Budapest, City of Music'', was published in March 2009.

Discography

* Gerald Barry: ''The Intelligence Park'' (NM

and ''The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit'' (Largo) *

Maurice Duruflé Maurice Gustave Duruflé (; 11 January 1902 – 16 June 1986) was a French composer, organist, musicologist, and teacher. Life and career Duruflé was born in Louviers, Eure in 1902. He attended Rouen Cathedral Choir School from 1912 to 1918, ...

: ''Requiem'' (CRD) * Nicola LeFanu: ''Canción de la Luna'' (Naxos) *

Nicola Porpora Nicola (or Niccolò) Antonio Giacinto Porpora (17 August 16863 March 1768) was an Italian composer and teacher of singing of the Baroque era, whose most famous singing students were the castrati Farinelli and Caffarelli. Other students include ...

: ''Cantatas'' (Hungaroton)

References

article about castrati, quoting Clapton
* Clapton, Nicholas: ''Moreschi, the Last Castrato'' (Haus Publications, Life and Times series, London, 2004)

External links

article about ''Handel and the Castrati'' at the Handel House Museum, London, curated by Nicholas Clapton
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clapton, Nicholas 1955 births Living people Writers from Worcester, England English male singers Operatic countertenors Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Academics of Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance Musicians from Worcester, England