Barry Banks (tenor)
Encyclopedia
Barry Banks, Born in Stoke-on-Trent. English lyric tenor
. Who after a long association with The Metropolitan Opera and English National Opera
has achieved acclaim as one of finest interpreters of the Italian bel canto
repertoire.
and in 1985 at the National Opera Studio
in London. Whilst studying in Manchester he was a regular member of the BBC Northern Singers
, Opera North
and Glyndebourne Festival Opera
singing light lyric roles such as Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Iopas in Les Troyens
, various Mozart roles, The Novice in Billy Budd
and Nanki Poo in The Mikado
. His first major break was going on to sing Almaviva at ENO whilst covering, and then performing the same role in two tours with WNO. He made his Royal Opera House
, Covent Garden debut as Beppe in I Pagliacci. His major European break was whilst covering Tamino in Die Zauberflöte at Glyndebourne. After singing an orchestral stage rehearsal, the then GMD of Leipzig Opera booked him to sing Tamino in Leizig and he became the first British singer to sing there in the post war era. This was immediately followed by singing the same role in Scottish Opera
, La Monnaie
in Brussels and the Salzburg Festival
. In 1993 Banks made his US debut singing the title role in Bernstein's Candide
at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
and this was the start of a fruitful association with the major companies of the USA that has seen Banks sing the roles of Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini
, composers that have become synonymous with this artist, singing roles at The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera
, Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera
, Santa Fe Opera
, Opera Colorado
in Denver, New York City Opera
and orchestras throughout the States. Although primarily known for his bel canto interpretations, Banks has a diverse repertoire, singing the music of Bach, Britten, Handel, Mozart, Berg, Stravinsky (including one of his signature roles, that of Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress
) Rimsky-Korsakov, Elgar and Gilbert and Sullivan
to name but a few. Banks is a regular stage artist throughout Europe singing at houses including ROH, Paris Opera
, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Bayerische Staatsoper, Berlin Staatsoper, Frankfurt Opera, Stuttgart Opera, Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam, Théâtre du Châtelet
, Paris, La Monnaie, Brussels, and Bologna Opera
Most recently, Banks' engagements include the Bayerische Staatsoper as Don Narciso (Il turco in Italia
), Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia) at The Metropolitan Opera where he was praised by his nuanced and agile singing and Lucia di Lammermoor for ENO. Other roles this season include Carlo in Armida in a new production at The Metropolitan Opera, Don Pasquale for ROH and the Metropolitan Opera, the title role in Mozart's Mitridate at the Bayerischer Staatsoper in Munich.and Semiramide in Napoli. Next season sees his debut at La Scala, Milan with a 10th Anniversary Concert as a memorial to the World Trade Center disaster and a performance of Benjamin Britten's A War Requiem. He also has a role debut as Hoffmann for a new production of The Tales of Hoffmann for ENO and a new production of Semiramide for The Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen.
For the Metropolitan Opera roles include:
Barry Banks lives in New York City
and has been a prolific recording artist for the label. CDs for this label include:
Other recording include include:
Other recordings for Sony Classics, EMI
, Philips
, Telarc and Opera Rara
Voice type
A voice type is a particular kind of human singing voice perceived as having certain identifying qualities or characteristics. Voice classification is the process by which human voices are evaluated and are thereby designated into voice types...
. Who after a long association with The Metropolitan Opera and English National Opera
English National Opera
English National Opera is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St. Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with the Royal Opera, Covent Garden...
has achieved acclaim as one of finest interpreters of the Italian bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
repertoire.
Early education
As a boy, Banks was the boy soprano soloist in his local family church. When he began high school he started to play the trumpet and became a member of the Staffordshire County Music School as a chorister in the Staffordshire County Youth Choir and became the principal cornet player of the Staffordshire County Youth Brass Band. He was a member of multiple brass bands including The Northern Brass Ensemble and Greenway Moor Brass Band, and consequently learned the early musicianship for which his singing has become known. In 1979 he went on to study voice at the Royal Northern College of MusicRoyal Northern College of Music
The Royal Northern College of Music is a music school in Manchester, England. It is located on Oxford Road in Chorlton on Medlock, at the western edge of the campus of the University of Manchester and is one of four conservatories associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music...
and in 1985 at the National Opera Studio
National Opera Studio
The National Opera Studio in London, England was established by the Arts Council as a link between the music colleges and the six main UK opera companies. It was resident at Morley College in Lambeth until 2003, when it gained use for the first time of its own dedicated premises in Chapel Yard,...
in London. Whilst studying in Manchester he was a regular member of the BBC Northern Singers
Career
His early career saw him honing his craft singing oratorio throughout Britain and Europe and performing with all the major British opera companies including English National Opera, Welsh National OperaWelsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
, Opera North
Opera North
Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays and the Theatre Royal, Newcastle...
and Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an English opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England.-History:...
singing light lyric roles such as Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Iopas in Les Troyens
Les Troyens
Les Troyens is a French opera in five acts by Hector Berlioz. The libretto was written by Berlioz himself, based on Virgil's epic poem The Aeneid...
, various Mozart roles, The Novice in Billy Budd
Billy Budd
Billy Budd is a short novel by Herman Melville.Billy Budd can also refer to:*Billy Budd , a 1962 film produced, directed, and co-written by Peter Ustinov, based on Melville's novel...
and Nanki Poo in The Mikado
The Mikado
The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen operatic collaborations...
. His first major break was going on to sing Almaviva at ENO whilst covering, and then performing the same role in two tours with WNO. He made his Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
, Covent Garden debut as Beppe in I Pagliacci. His major European break was whilst covering Tamino in Die Zauberflöte at Glyndebourne. After singing an orchestral stage rehearsal, the then GMD of Leipzig Opera booked him to sing Tamino in Leizig and he became the first British singer to sing there in the post war era. This was immediately followed by singing the same role in Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera
Scottish Opera is the national opera company of Scotland, and one of the five national performing arts companies funded by the Scottish Government...
, La Monnaie
La Monnaie
Le Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie , or the Koninklijke Muntschouwburg is a theatre in Brussels, Belgium....
in Brussels and the Salzburg Festival
Salzburg Festival
The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...
. In 1993 Banks made his US debut singing the title role in Bernstein's Candide
Candide (operetta)
Candide is an operetta with music composed by Leonard Bernstein, based on the novella of the same name by Voltaire. The operetta was first performed in 1956 with a libretto by Lillian Hellman; but since 1974 it has been generally performed with a book by Hugh Wheeler which is more faithful to...
at the Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
and this was the start of a fruitful association with the major companies of the USA that has seen Banks sing the roles of Rossini, Donizetti and Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
, composers that have become synonymous with this artist, singing roles at The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera
San Francisco Opera is an American opera company, based in San Francisco, California.It was founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola and is the second largest opera company in North America...
, Chicago Lyric Opera, Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera
Houston Grand Opera Houston Grand Opera was founded in 1955 through the joint efforts of Maestro Walter Herbert and cultural leaders Mrs. Louis G. Lobit, Edward Bing and Charles Cockrell...
, Santa Fe Opera
Santa Fe Opera
The Santa Fe Opera is an American opera company, located north of Santa Fe in the U.S. state of New Mexico, headquartered on a former guest ranch of .-General history:...
, Opera Colorado
Opera Colorado
Opera Colorado is an opera company located in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1981, it presents an annual season of three to four fully staged productions...
in Denver, New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
and orchestras throughout the States. Although primarily known for his bel canto interpretations, Banks has a diverse repertoire, singing the music of Bach, Britten, Handel, Mozart, Berg, Stravinsky (including one of his signature roles, that of Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress
The Rake's Progress is an opera in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings A Rake's Progress of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on May 2, 1947, in a Chicago...
) Rimsky-Korsakov, Elgar and Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the librettist W. S. Gilbert and the composer Arthur Sullivan . The two men collaborated on fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which H.M.S...
to name but a few. Banks is a regular stage artist throughout Europe singing at houses including ROH, Paris Opera
Paris Opera
The Paris Opera is the primary opera company of Paris, France. It was founded in 1669 by Louis XIV as the Académie d'Opéra and shortly thereafter was placed under the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Lully and renamed the Académie Royale de Musique...
, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, Bayerische Staatsoper, Berlin Staatsoper, Frankfurt Opera, Stuttgart Opera, Het Muziektheater, Amsterdam, Théâtre du Châtelet
Théâtre du Châtelet
The Théâtre du Châtelet is a theatre and opera house, located in the place du Châtelet in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France.One of two theatres built on the site of a châtelet, a small castle or fortress, it was designed by Gabriel Davioud at the request of Baron Haussmann between 1860 and...
, Paris, La Monnaie, Brussels, and Bologna Opera
Most recently, Banks' engagements include the Bayerische Staatsoper as Don Narciso (Il turco in Italia
Il turco in Italia
Il turco in Italia is an opera in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The Italian-language libretto was written by Felice Romani...
), Count Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia) at The Metropolitan Opera where he was praised by his nuanced and agile singing and Lucia di Lammermoor for ENO. Other roles this season include Carlo in Armida in a new production at The Metropolitan Opera, Don Pasquale for ROH and the Metropolitan Opera, the title role in Mozart's Mitridate at the Bayerischer Staatsoper in Munich.and Semiramide in Napoli. Next season sees his debut at La Scala, Milan with a 10th Anniversary Concert as a memorial to the World Trade Center disaster and a performance of Benjamin Britten's A War Requiem. He also has a role debut as Hoffmann for a new production of The Tales of Hoffmann for ENO and a new production of Semiramide for The Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen.
For the Metropolitan Opera roles include:
- Ernesto - Don PasqualeDon PasqualeDon Pasquale is an opera buffa, or comic opera, in three acts by Gaetano Donizetti. The librettist Giovanni Ruffini wrote the Italian language libretto after Angelo Anelli's libretto for Stefano Pavesi's Ser Marcantonio ....
- Ramiro - La CenerentolaLa CenerentolaLa Cenerentola, ossia La bontà in trionfo is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was written by Jacopo Ferretti, based on the fairy tale Cinderella...
- Almaviva - Il Barbiere di Siviglia
- Lindoro - L'italiana in AlgeriL'italiana in AlgeriL'italiana in Algeri is an operatic dramma giocoso in two acts by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Angelo Anelli, based on his earlier text set by Luigi Mosca...
- Fisherman - Le Rossignol
- Tonio - La fille du régimentLa fille du régimentLa fille du régiment is an opéra comique in two acts by Gaetano Donizetti. It was written while the composer was living in Paris, with a French libretto by Jules-Henri Vernoy de Saint-Georges and Jean-François Bayard.La figlia del reggimento, a slightly different Italian-language version , was...
- Elvino - La SonnambulaLa sonnambulaLa sonnambula is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the bel canto tradition by Vincenzo Bellini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ballet-pantomime by Eugène Scribe and Jean-Pierre Aumer called La somnambule, ou L'arrivée d'un nouveau seigneur.The first...
- Italian Singer - Der RosenkavalierDer RosenkavalierDer Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
- Nemorino - L'elisir d'amoreL'elisir d'amoreL'elisir d'amore is an opera by the Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. It is a melodramma giocoso in two acts...
- Carlo - ArmidaArmidaThe story of Armida, a Saracen sorceress and Rinaldo, a soldier in the First Crusade, was created by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso. In his epic Gerusalemme liberata, Rinaldo is a fierce and determined warrior who is also honorable and handsome...
- Gernando - ArmidaArmidaThe story of Armida, a Saracen sorceress and Rinaldo, a soldier in the First Crusade, was created by the Italian poet Torquato Tasso. In his epic Gerusalemme liberata, Rinaldo is a fierce and determined warrior who is also honorable and handsome...
- Shepherd - Oedipus Rex
- Italian Tenor - Der RosenkavalierDer RosenkavalierDer Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
- Italian Tenor - CapriccioCapriccioCapriccio may refer to:* A capriccio, a tempo marking* Capriccio , a chamber music composition* Capriccio , a piece of music which is fairly free in form* Capriccio , a 1942 German-language opera by Richard Strauss...
Barry Banks lives in New York City
Discography
Banks has had a distinguised relationship with Chandos RecordsChandos Records
Chandos Records is an independent classical music recording company based in Colchester, Essex, in the United Kingdom, founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.- Background :...
and has been a prolific recording artist for the label. CDs for this label include:
- ‘‘Barry Banks sings Bel Canto Arias‘‘ Barry Banks solo recital disc
- The Elixir of Love - Nemorino
- The Magic Flute - Tamino
- Don Pasquale - Ernesto
- The Pearl Fishers - Nadir
- Don Giovanni - Don Ottavio
- The Italian Girl in Algiers - Lindoro
- The Thieving Magpie - Giannetto
- Paulus - Tenor
- Carmina Burana - Roasting Swan
- Falstaff - Fenton
Other recording include include:
- Bianca e FallieroBianca e FallieroBianca e Falliero, ossia Il consiglio dei tre is a two-act operatic melodramma by Gioachino Rossini to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani. The libretto was based on Antoine-Vincent Arnault's play Les Vénitiens, ou Blanche et Montcassin.-Performance history:The opera premiered on December 26,...
- Contareno - Rossini - Trial By JuryTrial by JuryTrial by Jury is a comic opera in one act, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It was first produced on 25 March 1875, at London's Royalty Theatre, where it initially ran for 131 performances and was considered a hit, receiving critical praise and outrunning its...
- Defendant - Gilbert & Sullivan - I Normanni a Parigi - Odone - Mercadante
- FalstaffFalstaffSir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare. In the two Henry IV plays, he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V. A fat, vain, boastful, and cowardly knight, Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is...
- Fenton - Balfe
Other recordings for Sony Classics, EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
, Philips
Philips Records
Philips Records is a record label that was founded by Dutch electronics company Philips. It was started by "Philips Phonographische Industrie" in 1950. Recordings were made with popular artists of various nationalities and also with classical artists from Germany, France and Holland. Philips also...
, Telarc and Opera Rara
Opera Rara
Opera Rara is a British record label, founded in the early 1970s by Americans Patric Schmid and Don White to promote concerts of rare and/or forgotten operas by Giacomo Meyerbeer and Donizetti and such other "bel canto" composers as Giovanni Pacini, Saverio Mercadante, and Federico Ricci.The...
External links
- Barry Banks bio from IMG Artists
- Barry Banks bio from Harrison Parrot Artist Management
- http://www.chandos.net/searchres05.asp?LabelID=&ComposerID=&OrchestraID=&ConductorID=&SoloArtistID=3554&ChoralID=&ChamberID=&VenueID=&CollectionID=&CatalogueNumberPrefix=&CatalogueNumberSuffix=&Action=SearchAdv&Last=0