David Lloyd (singer, 1912)

David George Lloyd (born April 6, 1912 in Trelogan , † March 27, 1969 in Rhyl ) was a Welsh opera singer (tenor).

Life

Lloyd was one of seven children of a miner. He left school at the age of fourteen and completed an apprenticeship as a carpenter. He was musically interested and gifted and participated in various Eisteddfodau in Flintshire and the Vale of Clwyd. In 1933 he won a Sam Halibut Scholarship , which enabled him to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. There he was a student of Walter Hyde and won several prizes, including the Catherine Howard Prize for tenors (1934), his school's gold medal (1937) and a medal from the City of London Worshipful Company of Musicians (1938).

He joined the Glyndebourne Opera Company in 1938 under the direction of Fritz Busch and sang in operas by Mozart and Verdi in the 1938-39 season and received leading roles in opera performances at festivals in Sweden, Denmark and Belgium. In 1940 he sang Mozart in Sadler's Wells , then the Second World War interrupted his career. During his five-year service with the Welsh Guards , he worked for the radio, sang recordings and gave concerts.

After the war he continued his career as an opera singer and sang roles as first tenor at festivals in Holland and at the Verdi Festival in Great Britain under the direction of Thomas Beecham . In 1954 he had a serious accident while producing a BBC program . Only six years later did he return to the stage at the Llangollen International Eisteddfod . In 1961 he went on a concert tour through the USA and Canada. He was a juror at the National Eisteddfodau in Caernarfon (1959) and Swansea (1964).

Web links

• David Lloyd at Operissimo  on the basis of the Great Singer Lexicon
• Archives Network Wales - David Lloyd Papers
• Dictionary of Welsh Biography - Lloyd, David George