Thomas Guthrie is an English director, actor, writer, composer, arranger, fiddle player and

baritone A baritone is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the bass (voice type), bass and the tenor voice type, voice-types. It is the most common male voice. The term originates from the ...

singer. Guthrie was born in England. He began singing as a boy under

George Guest George Guest CBE FRCO (9 February 1924 – 20 November 2002) was a Welsh organist and choral conductor. Birth and early life George Guest was born in Bangor, Gwynedd. His father was an organist and Guest assisted him by acting as organ blow ...

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

. He then read Classics at

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

before winning a scholarship to study at the

Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...

, where he won prizes including the

Brigitte Fassbaender Brigitte Fassbaender (; born 3 July 1939), is a German mezzo-soprano opera singer and a stage director. From 1999 to 2012 she was Theater manager, intendant (managing director) of the Tyrolean State Theatre in Innsbruck, Austria. She holds the ti ...

Award for Lieder, the Schubert Prize, and an

English-Speaking Union The English-Speaking Union (ESU) is an international educational membership organisation headquartered in London, England. Founded by the journalist Sir Evelyn Wrench in 1918, it aims to bring together and empower people of different languages ...

(ESU) scholarship to study with

Thomas Allen Thomas Allen may refer to: Clergy *Thomas Allen (nonconformist) (1608–1673), Anglican/nonconformist priest in England and New England *Thomas Allen (dean of Chester) (died 1732) *Thomas Allen (scholar) (1681–1755), Anglican priest in England * ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

. He is the founder and artistic director of the charit
Music and Theatre for All
(2014-current). In 2002 he co-directed the

Bampton Classical Opera Bampton Classical Opera is an opera company based in Bampton, Oxfordshire and founded in 1993. It specialises in the production of lesser known opera from the Classical period. Performances are always sung in English. ''Opera today'' called the ...

production of ''Waiting for Figaro''. In 2010, 2011 and 2013 he and

Gwyneth Herbert Gwyneth Herbert (born 26 August 1981) is a British singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. Initially known for her interpretation of jazz and swing standards, she is now established as a writer of original compo ...

sang in ''The Playlist'', a series of

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

broadcasts recreating the previously unknown musical lives of famous figures from the past, discovering and recording their favourite songs – including songs they themselves had composed. He directed a critically acclaimed production of

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. He gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano p ...

's ''

The Barber of Seville ''The Barber of Seville, or The Useless Precaution'' ( ) is an ''opera buffa'' (comic opera) in two acts composed by Gioachino Rossini with an Italian libretto by Cesare Sterbini. The libretto was based on Pierre Beaumarchais's French comedy ' ...

'' at London's

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is a theatre in Covent Garden, central London. The building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. The ROH is the main home of The Royal Opera, The Royal Ballet, and the Orch ...

in 2014. In early April 2020, in the era of coronavirus, he organised a multi-musician internet recital, with participants singing or playing his arrangement of the ballad "

Where Have All The Flowers Gone? "Where Have All the Flowers Gone?" is a folk song written by American singer-songwriter Pete Seeger in 1955. Inspired lyrically by the traditional Cossack folk song "Koloda-Duda", Seeger borrowed an Irish melody for the music, and published the ...

" from their homes to raise funds for

Help Musicians UK Help Musicians (formerly Musicians Benevolent Fund), is a United Kingdom charity offering help for musicians throughout their careers. History It was created by Victor Beigel in 1921 as the Gervase Elwes Memorial Fund, following the death of En ...

. The result was uploaded to the internet and widely viewed. He is a regular member o
The Alehouse Boys
a project led b
Barokksolistene
s Bjarte Eike. Recordings include The Alehouse Sessions, The Playhouse Sessions, and Schubert's Die schöne Müllerin, all o
Rubicon Classics

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guthrie, Thomas Living people Alumni of the Royal Northern College of Music Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British opera directors English male actors English operatic baritones Place of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)