William Pearson (singer)

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William Pearson
Gravestone of William Pearson

William Pearson (born September 10, 1934 , † June 18, 1995 in Cologne ) was an American singer ( baritone ).

He spent most of his career in Europe, especially in Germany. He was known for his broad repertoire , which ranged from Bach and Handel to spirituals and avant-garde compositions.

Life

Pearson was born in Tennessee and graduated from the School of Music at the University of Louisville , Kentucky. In 1956 he came to Europe as a Fulbright scholar . He was the first black singer to receive the scholarship. After further studies at the Cologne University of Music with Ellen Busenius and Clemens Glettenberg , he sang at various international opera houses, for example in Budapest, Hamburg, Helsinki and Paris. From 1963 he directed the singing class at the Robert Schumann Conservatory in Düsseldorf. He achieved great success as Porgy in Gershwin's Porgy and Bess at the European premiere in Helsinki in 1965 ; the work accompanied him throughout his career. An LP Porgy & Bess was recorded in 1968 with Gloria Davy and the Nürnberger Symphoniker .

Pearson gave concerts and recitals throughout Germany and Europe as well as in the most important cultural centers in Europe, the USA and Australia.

Contemporary composers wrote pieces of music for him, including György Ligeti 1962 Aventures , Sylvano Bussotti 1960 Pearson Piece , for which Pearson wrote the text, and Dieter Schnebel 1970 Maulwerke and 1970/71 Breaths .

Hans Werner Henze composed the dramatic chamber revue El Cimarrón (1969/1970) for Pearson based on an autobiography of the Cuban slave Esteban Montejo, edited by Hans Magnus Enzensberger . The world premiere took place on June 22, 1970 at the Adelburgh Festival.

Henze paid tribute to Pearson after his death: “'El Cimarron' was composed with lively ideas about Billy, his voice, his possibilities of expression, his increasingly charismatic charisma. Our friendship was fun and indestructible. "

In 1983 Pearson began working with the actor and director Franz-Josef Heumannskämper . The first production was Dadazuerich with Gisela Saur-Kontarsky and Ingo Metzmacher , set designer Gerhard Naschberger , which was performed in 1985 at the Frankfurt Festival in the Alte Oper in Frankfurt. From 1994 to 1995 William Pearson took over the musical direction of “Violett”, color opera by Wassily Kandinsky , directed by Franz-Josef Heumannskämper for the Sprengel Museum Hannover , with guest appearances in London, Amsterdam and Luxembourg.

In an obituary, the music critic Gerhard R. Koch described Pearson as "visually and musically changeable like a chameleon - and like this one, nevertheless, always identical to itself, with integrity especially in its artistic adaptability and creative openness to extreme demands."

Franz-Josef Heumannskämper, Pearson's partner, donated his estate to the Cologne City Archives . The estate, including original scores and correspondence with Hans Werner Henze and Mauricio Kagel , was lost when the building collapsed in March 2009. Heumannskämper sued the Cologne Regional Court for damages. The appeal is made before the Cologne Higher Regional Court ; the process is suspended until the reports have been completed.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ On the roof of the mouth . In: Der Spiegel . No. 20 , 1962, pp. 95 ( online ).
  2. ↑ Music label Colosseum, label Number-Colos MST 4001, Press-Germany
  3. ↑ Dieter Schnebel: Nono's Muse . In: Neue Musikzeitung , issue 2/2003
  4. ↑ Hans Werner Henze : Travel pictures with Bohemian fifths - Autographische Mitteilungen 1926–1995 . S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1996, ISBN 3-10-032605-9 , p. 342
  5. ↑ a b Gerhard R. Koch: Changeable identical . In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , July 5, 1995, p. 29
  6. ↑ Franz-Josef Heumannskämper  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. at theater.lu@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.theater.lu  
  7. ↑ experimentaltheater.com  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 2.9 MB). P. 48@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.experimentaltheater.com  
  8. ↑ Marc Steinhäuser: Buried memories . In: Die Zeit online, November 18, 2009
  9. ↑ Lars Hering: Apart from photos I have nothing left . WDR, March 16, 2010; Interview with Franz-Josef Heumannskämper
  10. ↑ Daniel Taab: Signs scary .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Kölnische Rundschau online, November 13, 2010@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / www.xn--klnischerundschau-zzb.de  
personal data
SURNAME Pearson, William
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American singer (baritone)
DATE OF BIRTH September 10, 1934
DATE OF DEATH June 18, 1995
Place of death Cologne