This page is about the singer. For others of similar name see Donald MacIntyre

Donald MacIntyre

This page is about the Victoria Cross recipient. For others of similar name see Donald MacIntyreMajor General Donald Macintyre VC was a Scottish recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and...

Sir Donald McIntyre, CBE

CBE

CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...

 (born in Auckland

Auckland

The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

, on October 22, 1934) is a celebrated operatic bass-baritone

Bass-baritone

A bass-baritone is a high-lying bass or low-lying "classical" baritone voice type which shares certain qualities with the true baritone voice. The term arose in the late 19th century to describe the particular type of voice required to sing three Wagnerian roles: the Dutchman in Der fliegende...

. He made his formal debut as Zaccaria in Nabucco, at the Welsh National Opera

Welsh 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...

, in 1959. In 1964 he created the role of the Stranger in the world premiere of Gian Carlo Menotti

Gian Carlo Menotti

Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...

's Martin's Lie

Martin's Lie

Martin's Lie is a chamber opera in 1 Act with music and an English language libretto by Gian Carlo Menotti. Commissioned by CBS, it was Menotti's third opera for television after Amahl and the Night Visitors and Labyrinth...

at the Bath International Music Festival

Bath International Music Festival

The Bath International Music Festival, also known as the Bath Music Fest, is held each summer in Bath, South West England. Inaugurated in 1948, the festival includes many genres such as orchestral, contemporary jazz, folk and electronica...

. He has appeared at Covent Garden

Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...

 (from 1967, debuting as Pizarro in Fidelio), the Bayreuth Festival

Bayreuth Festival

The Bayreuth Festival is a music festival held annually in Bayreuth, Germany, at which performances of operas by the 19th century German composer Richard Wagner are presented...

 (from 1967), the Teatro alla Scala, etc. He first sang at the Metropolitan Opera

Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...

 in 1975, as Wotan in Das Rheingold, and was seen at that theatre until 1996.

His discography includes Pelléas et Mélisande (as Golaud, with George Shirley

George Shirley

George Irving Shirley is a renowned tenor opera singer.He is a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.-External links:*** by Bruce Duffie...

 and Elisabeth Söderström

Elisabeth Söderström

Elisabeth Anna Söderström CBE was a Swedish soprano, who performed both opera and song. She was particularly well known for her recordings of the lead soprano roles in the three Janáček operas Jenůfa, Káťa Kabanová, and The Makropoulos Affair, all of which received Gramophone Awards...

, conducted by Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez

Pierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...

, 1969), Parsifal (as Klingsor, opposite Dame Gwyneth Jones, 1970), Lohengrin as Friedrich von Telramund (conducted by Rudolf Kempe

Rudolf Kempe

Rudolf Kempe was a German conductor.- Biography :Kempe was born in Dresden, where from the age of fourteen he studied at the Dresden State Opera School. He played oboe in the opera orchestra of Dortmund and then in the Leipzig Gewandhaus orchestra, from 1929...

), Œdipus rex (conducted by Sir Georg Solti

Georg Solti

Sir Georg Solti, KBE, was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor. He was a major classical recording artist, holding the record for having received the most Grammy Awards, having personally won 31 as a conductor, including the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition to his...

, with Sir Peter Pears

Peter Pears

Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears CBE was an English tenor who was knighted in 1978. His career was closely associated with the composer Edward Benjamin Britten....

, 1976), Parsifal (as Gurnemanz, led by Sir Reginald Goodall

Reginald Goodall

Sir Reginald Goodall was an English conductor, noted for his performances of the operas of Richard Wagner and conducting the premieres of several operas by Benjamin Britten.-Biography:...

, 1984), as well as Handel

HANDEL

HANDEL was the code-name for the UK's National Attack Warning System in the Cold War. It consisted of a small console consisting of two microphones, lights and gauges. The reason behind this was to provide a back-up if anything failed....

's oratorios, Messiah and Israel in Egypt.

A major accomplishment was his Wotan at Bayreuth, which was recorded and filmed, conducted by Boulez and directed by Patrice Chéreau

Patrice Chéreau

Patrice Chéreau is a French opera and theatre director, filmmaker, actor, and producer.-Biography:Patrice Chéreau was born in Lézigné, Maine-et-Loire, and went to school in Paris. At a young age he became well-known to Parisian critics as director, actor, and stage manager of his high-school theatre...

 (1979-80). Also on DVD are Sir Donald's performances of Der Fliegende Holländer (conducted by Wolfgang Sawallisch

Wolfgang Sawallisch

Wolfgang Sawallisch is a retired German conductor and pianist.-Biography:Sawallisch was born in Munich, and studied composition and pianoforte there privately: at the conclusion of the war, in 1946 he continued his studies at the Munich High School for Music and passed his final examination for...

, 1974), Elektra (as Orest, with Birgit Nilsson

Birgit Nilsson

right|thumb|Nilsson in 1948.Birgit Nilsson was a celebrated Swedish dramatic soprano who specialized in operatic and symphonic works...

 conducted by James Levine

James Levine

James Lawrence Levine is an American conductor and pianist. He is currently the music director of the Metropolitan Opera and former music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine's first performance conducting the Metropolitan Opera was on June 5, 1971, and as of May 2011 he has...

, in Herbert Graf

Herbert Graf

Herbert Grafton was an Austrian-American opera producer. Born in Vienna in 1904, he was the son of Max Graf , the Austrian author, critic, musicologist and member of Sigmund Freud's circle of friends...

's production, 1980), Die Meistersinger (conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras

Charles Mackerras

Sir Alan Charles Maclaurin Mackerras, AC, CH, CBE was an Australian conductor. He was an authority on the operas of Janáček and Mozart, and the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan...

, c.1990), Arabella (with Dame Kiri Te Kanawa

Kiri Te Kanawa

Dame Kiri Jeanette Te Kanawa, ONZ, DBE, AC is a New Zealand / Māori soprano who has had a highly successful international opera career since 1968. Acclaimed as one of the most beloved sopranos in both the United States and Britain she possesses a warm full lyric soprano voice, singing a wide array...

, 1994), as well as another Elektra (conducted by Levine, 1994).

Sir Donald has a street named after him in Newtown, Wellington.

External links

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sB_-rxMtAM YouTube: Sir Donald McIntyre in an excerpt from Die Walküre, with Dame Gwyneth Jones (1980).