Geraint Evans
Sir Geraint Llewellyn Evans, born Pontypridd, 16 February 1922, was a Welsh baritone, noted for operatic roles including Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and the title-roles in Falstaff and Wozzeck
He studied in Cardiff and at the Guildhall School of Music. In the years immediately following World War II, he worked for the British Forces Radio Network in Hamburg.
Roles
He made his operatic début as the nightwatchman in Die Meistersinger at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1948, and went on to sing Figaro in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro there in 1949.
At Glyndebourne in 1950 he first played the role with which he was, perhaps, most associated: the title role in Verdi’s Falstaff, which he later played in all major opera houses, including Covent Garden (1961, directed and designed by Franco Zeffirelli), the Vienna Staatsoper and the Metropolitan Opera (1964 in another Zeffirelli production); he was the first British singer since Eva Turner (Turandot in her case) to be regularly engaged to play a major Italian operatic lead in Italian opera houses including La Scala (1960).
Other roles in which he was celebrated were Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger, Figaro, Don Pizarro in Fidelio, Don Pasquale, Dulcamara in L'elisir d'amore and Leporello in Don Giovanni.
Evans also appeared in the premières of many modern British operas, including Vaughan Williams's Pilgrim’s Progress (1951); Britten's Billy Budd (1951) and Gloriana (1953), Walton's Troilus and Cressida (1954), and Hoddinott's The Beach of Falesá (1974) and Murder the Magician (1976).
Recordings
Geraint Evans's recordings include:
- Falstaff (conducted by Georg Solti)
- Mozart’s Figaro (for both Otto Klemperer and Daniel Barenboim)
- Guglielmo in Così fan tutte (Klemperer)
- Ned Keene in Peter Grimes (conducted by the composer)
- Beckmesser (conducted by Herbert von Karajan)
- Dulcamara (conducted by John Pritchard)
He also recorded Ko-Ko in The Mikado and other Gilbert and Sullivan roles conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent.
Honours and retirement
Geraint Evans was knighted in 1969. Other honours conferred on him included:
- Sir Charles Santley Memorial Award (1963)
- Harriet Cohen International Award (1967)
- San Francisco Opera Medal (1980)
- Fidelio Medal (1980)
After his retirement from the operatic stage in 1983 (his farewell performances were as Dulcamara), he worked as an operatic stage director.
He died in Aberystwyth on 19 September 1992 at the age of 70.
Reference
Programme book, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, 25 May 1983.