Donald Shanks (singer)

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Donald Robert Shanks (born July 5, 1940 in Brisbane , Queensland , † April 8, 2011 ) was an Australian opera singer ( bass baritone ).

Life

Shanks began his artistic career as a singer in various church choirs and at church services. In 1964, after a successful audition, he made his operatic debut with the Elizabethan Theater Trust Opera, the forerunner of today's Opera Australia , in an amateur production of the operetta Der Mikado . He then went on tour through Australia with the Williamson-Sutherland Opera Company; there he sang the Baron Douphol in La traviata . He has developed a long career at Opera Australia since 1964. He performed there for over 40 years and sang the comic bass-baritone subject, the bel canto subject as well as serious bass roles, including in the operas of Richard Wagner .

Among his most important roles were Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail , Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte , Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro (including 1989 in the summer season of the Australian Opera Sydney), Rocco in Fidelio (including in the winter season 1984 with Opera Australia) , the title role in Don Pasquale , Dulcamarara in Der Liebestrank , Oroveso in Norma (1985 in Sydney), Zaccaria in Nabucco (in the winter season 1984 in Sydney), Banquo in Macbeth (with Sherrill Milnes in the title role), King Philip and Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlo , Ramphis in Aida (including in the 1984 winter season with Opera Australia), Colline in La Bohème (including alongside Luciano Pavarotti as Rodolfo; also during the 1981/82 winter season of the Australian Opera in the Bohème - resumption in February 1982), Timur in Turandot , Kezal in The Bartered Bride (including in the winter season 1981 with Opera Australia) and Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier .

In the opera Boris Godunov he sang both the title role and the role of the old monk and chronicler Pimen. In the 1982 winter season he appeared as Boris Godunow with Opera Australia. In the Wagner field he performed as Daland ( Der Fliegende Holländer ), Landgraf ( Tannhäuser ), König Heinrich ( Lohengrin , among others at Opera Australia in Sydney in the 1987 winter season), König Marke ( Tristan and Isolde , among others in the winter season 1982 with Rita Hunter and Alberto Remedios in the title roles), Veit Pogner ( Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg ), Hunding ( Die Walküre , among others in the 1989 winter season when it was revived) and Gurnemanz ( Parsifal ). Joan Sutherland has been his partner several times in operas in Australia and Canada , including in Norma (Sydney 1985), in Lucia di Lammermoor (Sutherland in the title role, Shanks as Raimondo), in Il trovatore (1983, Sydney Opera House), Hamlet ( 1985, Canadian Opera Company) and I puritani (1985, Sydney Opera House).

Shanks has made guest appearances at the Covent Garden Opera (1974, as Fafner in Das Rheingold ), at the Grand Opéra Paris (1976, also as Fafner), with the Canadian Opera Company (1983–1986), at the Sydney Opera House (1983, as Ferrando in Il trovatore ; 1988, as König in Aida ; 1991/1992 as Ochs and as Bartolo in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro ), at the Queensland Opera in Brisbane (1989, as Osmin) and at the Victoria State Opera.

In October 2004 he officially took leave of the opera stage with the title role in the operetta Der Mikado . In his last season at Opera Australia, he also sang Pfarrer / Badger in The Cunning Little Vixen and Doctor Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro . Most recently, Shanks sang Doctor Bartolo again in September 2010 in an Opera Queensland production at the Brisbane Festival.

Several recordings of opera performances in which Shanks participated have now been released on DVD, including Il trovatore (1983, Sydney Opera), Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1988, Australia Opera with Donald McIntyre as Hans Sachs) and Turandot (1991, Opera Australia ).

Shanks was named Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1977 New Years Day Honors in recognition of his artistic merits . In 1987 he became Officer of the Order of Australia .

Shanks died of a heart attack .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Celebrated bass Donald Shanks bids farewell to the operatic stage ( Memento of the original from July 22, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . State of the Arts , October 15, 2004  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stateart.com.au
  2. ↑ a b c Big bass voice was a father figure for opera . Obituary in: The Australian, April 12, 2011
  3. ^ Opera Under the Stars . occupation
  4. ↑ Donald Shanks . Discography
  5. ^ The Order of the British Empire - Officer (Civil) . It's an honor
  6. ^ Officer of The Order of Australia . It's an honor
  7. ↑ Legendary Australian opera singer Donald Shanks dies of heart attack ( Memento of the original from April 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Obituary in: Limelight Magazine, April 11, 2011  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.limelightmagazine.com.au
personal data
SURNAME Shanks, Donald
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Shanks, Donald Robert (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Australian opera singer (bass baritone)
DATE OF BIRTH 5th July 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Brisbane , Queensland
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 2011