Allan Evans (singer)

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Allan Evans (born March 11, 1941 in Macon , Georgia ; † November 7, 2018 in Mannheim ) was an American opera singer ( bass baritone ) who worked mainly in German-speaking countries.

Life

Evans was the oldest of eight siblings and grew up in Macon , Georgia, USA. He attended Ballard-Hudson Senior High School in Macon until 1959 and then studied at Knoxville College in Tennessee , then at the College of St. Thomas, and finally musicology at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota . With a scholarship from Reader's Digest publishers DeWitt and Lila Wallace , he studied singing at the Juilliard School in New York from 1962 to 1966 . After graduating, he went to Europe in 1966 and completed his training in Bayreuth, at the Munich Music Academy , at the Salzburg Mozarteum and with Hilde Zadek in Vienna.

His first engagement was at the Vienna Chamber Opera from 1968 to 1970, and from 1968 to 1972 at the Trier Theater. Then he was freelance and was a frequent guest at the Theater Bremen , at the Zurich Opera House , at the Graz Opera and the Cologne Opera .

From 1978 to 1986 he was a member of the ensemble of the Basel Theater . In 1987 he moved to the Nationaltheater Mannheim , where he sang as a member of the ensemble until 1999. Guest appearances have taken him to the Deutsche Oper Berlin , the Stuttgart State Opera , the Bavarian State Opera , the Bonn Opera , the Deutsche Oper am Rhein , the Cologne Opera , the Kassel and Wiesbaden State Theaters , the Bern City Theater as well as Copenhagen and Luxembourg. 2006–07 he was a member of the ensemble at the Staatstheater Kassel. In the 2000s / 2010s he sang mainly at the Hanover State Opera .

In the late 1960s, Evans, who grew up in the climate of the Jim Crow laws and racial segregation, was one of the first black American singers to celebrate success at opera houses in German-speaking countries. While he was seen as a freelance singer at several German-speaking theaters in the 1970s, initially mainly as Porgy in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess , he also conquered the great baritone roles of the German and Italian repertoire at an early age. In 1995 he was still struggling with racist prejudice when there were “unsightly concerns” about the cast of Hans Sachs in Wagner's Meistersingern von Nürnberg with a black singer in Mannheim. The Mannheim audience, however, unanimously celebrated Evans as Hans Sachs, and in 1996 he was awarded the title Kammersänger there by the state of Baden-Württemberg . Evans sang all major Wagner roles for hero baritone , many roles in the Italian repertoire and many modern operas, including several world premieres. As "Man from La Mancha" and "Sweeney Todd" he was also successful in musicals. He was also often heard in concerts. Several records, including light music and spirituals, were released in the 1970s and 1980s.

Evans was a lecturer at the International Theater Academy Göttingen (ITA) and led workshops for young professional singers at the Mannheim National Theater and at the orffeo studio Mannheim.

repertoire

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Waltraud Brunst: Character head with a big voice; Mannheimer Morgen, November 12, 2018, p. 32
  2. ^ Allan Evan's overseas success , Macon Magazine
  3. ↑ a b Kutsch / Riemens, see literature
  4. ↑ a b c biography at the ITA Göttingen
  5. ↑ Stefan Koch: Contemporary Witnesses. Allan Evans . 1998, see literature
  6. ^ Sound carrier with Allan Evans in the catalog of the German National Library
  7. ^ National Theater Mannheim - Allen Evans. Retrieved on December 16, 2017 (German).
  8. ↑ orffeo studio - Our teachers. Retrieved on December 16, 2017 (German).
personal data
SURNAME Evans, Allan
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American opera singer (bass baritone)
DATE OF BIRTH March 11, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Macon , Georgia
DATE OF DEATH 7th November 2018
Place of death Mannheim