Monday, March 08, 2010

In Memoriam

The tenor Philip Langridge has died aged 70.

The name may not mean much to most of you. For me, it is the first time that something in which I have been involved has been mentioned in the obituaries.

In 1984, when I was a member of the committee for the Laurence Olivier awards, we voted Philip Langridge the winner of the prize for the best individual performance in an opera. It was for his performance in the Janacek opera Osud. It's a bit like the Best Actor award at the Oscars.


He was not at the awards ceremony, as he was performing abroad, so I never got to meet him. But his son collected the award on his behalf, and we exchanged a few words.
With the Welsh National Opera's production of From The House of the Dead winning the best new opera production prize, it was Janacek night all round.

4 comments:

  1. It means something to me. Losing singers of this generation is like losing dear friends. Thank you for your tribute.

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  2. I agree w/ Theresa. Pretty soon all my fave rock icons will begin to pass away extremely quickly too. :(

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  3. He was a very handsome man...

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  4. Anonymous6:52 pm

    His face looks vaguely familiar, but I've no idea why. It's always sad when a we lose a great voice, but at least now we have the technology to capture their sound for the ages.

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