William Mason (singer)
William Mason (* 1947 in London , Great Britain ) is an English opera singer ( bass ). He lives in Ahorn in Upper Austria .
Life
With his wife Jean from New Zealand, who was also a singer, he has two sons, the opera singer Orlando , who lives in Hagen , and the freelance theater director and author Henry .
William Mason had his first paid singing job as a choirboy in Bristol at the age of ten (equivalent to EUR 0.40 / year).
In 1966 he began his studies at Cambridge University and the Royal Academy of Music with well-known teachers such as Kenneth Bowen , Otakar Kraus , Alexander Kolo and Riccardo Lombardi . In 1972 he sang in a choir at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera . A permanent engagement at the English National Opera followed, where he appeared as "Bonze" ( Madame Butterfly ), "Zuniga" ( Carmen ) and "Mönch" ( Don Carlos ).
In 1977 he moved to the Stadttheater Heidelberg , where he a. a. sang “Commendatore” ( Don Giovanni ) and “Simone” ( Gianni Schicchi ). At the Stadttheater Würzburg (from 1979) she sang the part of "Osmin" in Die Entführung aus dem Serail , "Rocco" in Fidelio and "van Bett" in Zar und Zimmermann .
Mason was permanently engaged at the Landestheater Linz from 1982 to 2009 . Here he portrayed “Sarastro” in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte , “Don Alfonso” in Così fan tutte , the title character “ Don Pasquale ” in the Donizetti opera and the “Grand Inquisitor” in Don Carlos. He was in the 2006/2007 season as "Gaderer" in the Testament , "postman" in "the Scarlet Friederike", "Drunken poet" in "the Fairy Queen" (the Fairy Queen) and "Lord advocate" in the premiere "the crafty widow" by Peter Androsch to see .
In between he also appeared as a guest on other Austrian stages, such as Nabucco's “Zaccaria” in Innsbruck , in Freischütz as “Caspar” in Graz and in Klagenfurt as “Doctor” in “Elegy for young lovers”.
From 1992 to 2013 he taught at the Anton Bruckner Private University Linz as a professor for singing. He is the musical director of the baroque opera association “Opera da Camera” in Wilhering , which he founded in 1996 together with his New Zealand-born wife Jean.
From 2002 to 2004 Mason was a member of the State Cultural Advisory Board.
Theater in the culture factory
In 2007 he and his wife founded the "Theater in der Kulturfabrik" festival in Helfenberg in the Mühlviertel north of Linz:
In 2007 Shakespeare's "Comedy of Errors" and "Down with Love" by son Henry Mason , "His Majesty's Players" were on the program. The baroque opera “Venus and Adonis” was musically directed by him and staged by Nicole Weber. Youngsters from the Helfenberg Theater, a children's choir from the local elementary school, son Orlando (engaged at the Cologne Opera ), and actors from the Czech Republic took part in this production. “Venus and Adonis” is considered the very first English opera.
Further productions followed in Helfenberg, such as:
- 2008 As You Like It - Directed by Henry Mason,
- 2009 Der Drache von Helfenberg - directed by Beverly Blankenship;
- 2010 The Mikado - directed by John F. Kutil;
- 2011 The Talisman - directed by John F. Kutil;
- 2012 Winter's Tale - directed by Henry Mason. For this, the stage art award of the state of Upper Austria was awarded to the team in 2012.
Web links
- Media by and about William Mason in the catalog of the German National Library
- Web presence of Theater in der Kulturfabrik
Individual evidence
- ↑ William Mason , in: Web presence of the Landestheater Linz
- ^ William Mason , in: Web presence of Theater am Grillparzerhof
- ^ Henry Mason - award-winning Shakespeare admirer , in: Oberösterreichische Nachrichten of December 18, 2012
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Mason, William |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | English opera singer (bass) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1947 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | London , UK |