Royal College of Music
Established	1882
Type	Public
Endowment	£22.3 million[1]
President	The Prince of Wales
Students	610[2]
Location	South Kensington, London, England, United Kingdom
Website	http://www.RCM.ac.uk/

The Royal College of Music is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, England.

The college's building is next to Imperial College, directly opposite the Royal Albert Hall, near the Royal College of Art and five minutes' walk from the Science, Natural History and Victoria and Albert Museums.

History[link]

Background[link]

The National Training School for Music building, later home to the Royal College of Music (1883–94) and the Royal College of Organists (1903–91)

The college was founded in 1883 to replace the short lived and unsuccessful National Training School for Music (NTSM). The school was the result of an earlier proposal by the Prince Consort to provide free musical training to winners of scholarships under a nationwide scheme. After many years' delay it was established in 1876, with Arthur Sullivan as its principal. Conservatoires to train young students for a musical career had been set up in major European cities, but in London the long-established Royal Academy of Music had not supplied suitable training for professional musicians: in 1870 it was estimated that fewer than ten per cent of instrumentalists in London orchestras had studied at the academy.^[3] The NTSM's aim, summarised in its founding charter, was:

To establish for the United Kingdom such a School of Music as already exists in many of the principal Continental countries, – a School which shall take rank with the Conservatories of Milan, Paris, Vienna, Leipsic, Brussels, and Berlin, – a School which shall do for the musical youth of Great Britain what those Schools are doing for the talented youth of Italy, Austria, France, Germany, and Belgium.^[3]

The school was housed in a new building in Kensington Gore, opposite the west side of the Royal Albert Hall. The building was not large, having only 18 practice rooms and no concert hall. In a 2005 study of the NTSM and its replacement by the RCM, David Wright observes that the building is "more suggestive of a young ladies' finishing school than a place for the serious training of professional musicians."^[3]

Under Sullivan, a reluctant and ineffectual principal, the NTSM failed to provide a satisfactory alternative to the Royal Academy, and by 1880 a committee of examiners comprising Charles Hallé, Sir Julius Benedict, Sir Michael Costa, Henry Leslie and Otto Goldschmidt reported that the school lacked "executive cohesion".^[3] The following year Sullivan resigned, and was replaced by John Stainer. In his 2005 study of the NTSM, Wright comments:

Like the RAM at that time, the NTSM simply failed to relate its teaching to professional need, and so did not discriminate between the education required to turn out professional instrumentalists/singers and amateur/ social musicians; nor between elementary and advanced teachers. And because its purpose was unclear, so was its provision.^[3]

Even before the 1880 report it had become clear that the NTSM would not fulfil the role of national music conservatoire. As early as 13 July 1878 a meeting was held at Marlborough House, London under the presidency of the Prince of Wales, "for the purpose of taking into consideration the advancement of the art of music, and establishing a college of music on a permanent and more extended basis than that of any existing institution."^[4] The original plan was to merge the Royal Academy of Music and the National Training School of Music into a single, enhanced organisation. The NTSM agreed, but after prolonged negotiations the Royal Academy refused to enter into the proposed scheme.^[4]

In 1881, with George Grove as a leading instigator, and with the support of the Prince of Wales, a draft charter was drawn up for a successor body to the NTSM. The Royal College of Music occupied the premises previously home to the NTSM, and opened there on 7 May 1883. Grove was appointed its first director.^[5] There were 50 scholars elected by competition and 42 fee-paying students.^[6]

Early years[link]

Grove, a close friend of Sullivan, loyally maintained that the new college was a natural evolution from the NTSM.^[3] In reality his aims were radically different from Sullivan's. In his determination that the new institution should succeed as a training ground for orchestral players, Grove had two principal allies: the violinist Henry Holmes and the composer and conductor Charles Villiers Stanford.^[3] They believed that a capable college orchestra would not only benefit instrumental students, but would give students of composition the essential chance to experience the sound of their music.^[3] The college's first intake of scholarship students included 28 who studied an orchestral instrument. The potential strength of the college orchestra, including fee-paying instrumental students, was 33 violins, five violas, six cellos, one double bass, one flute, one oboe and two horns.^[3] Grove appointed 12 professors of orchestral instruments, in addition to distinguished teachers in other musical disciplines including Jenny Lind (singing), Hubert Parry (composition), Ernst Pauer (piano), Arabella Goddard (piano) and Walter Parratt (organ).^[5]

Front façade of the Royal College of Music

The old premises proved restrictive, and a new building was commissioned in the early 1890s on a new site in Prince Consort Road, South Kensington. The building was designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield in Flemish Mannerist style in red brick dressed with buff-coloured Welden stone.^[7] Construction began in 1892 and the building opened in May 1894.^[8] The building was largely paid for by two large donations from Samson Fox, a Yorkshire industrialist, whose statue, along with that of the Prince of Wales, stands in the entrance hall.^[9]

Grove retired at the end of 1894, and was succeeded as director by Hubert Parry.^[10]

Later history[link]

Parry died in 1918 and was succeeded as director by Sir Hugh Allen (1919–37), Sir George Dyson (1938–52), Sir Ernest Bullock (1953–59), Sir Keith Falkner (1960–74), Sir David Willcocks (1974–84), Michael Gough Mathews (1985–93), Dame Janet Ritterman (1993–2005) and Colin Lawson (2005–).^[11]

In addition to the college's permanent staff, faculty members at 2012 included well-known musicians such as Dmitri Alekseyev, Barry Douglas, Håkan Hardenberger, John Lill, Colin Matthews, Sir Roger Norrington, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Roger Vignoles, and principals of the major London orchestras including the London Symphony, BBC Symphony, London Philharmonic, Philharmonia and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestras.^[12]

Since its founding in 1882 the college has been linked with the British royal family. Its patron is currently Queen Elizabeth II. For 40 years Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother was president; in 1993 the Prince of Wales became president.^[13]

A hall of residence serving 170 students was opened in 1994 in Goldhawk Road, Shepherd's Bush.^[14]

The college is a registered charity under English law.^[15]

Curriculum[link]

The Royal College of Music from Prince Consort Road, London

The college teaches all aspects of Western classical music from undergraduate to doctoral level. There is a junior department, where 300 children aged 8 to 18 are educated on Saturdays.^[16]

Performance venues[link]

The RCM's main concert venue is the Amaryllis Fleming concert hall a 468-seat barrel-vaulted concert hall designed by Blomfield, built in 1901 and extensively restored in 2008–09. The Britten theatre, which seats 400, was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1986 and is used for opera, ballet, music and theatre. There is also a 150-seat recital hall dating from 1965, as well as several smaller recital rooms, including three organ-equipped Parry Rooms.

Collections[link]

The College's museum of instruments, forming part of the centre for performance history, houses a collection of more than 800 instruments and accessories from circa 1480 to the present. Included in the collection is the world's oldest surviving keyboard instrument.

Alfred Schnittke by Reginald Gray

Owing partly to the vision of its founders, particularly Grove, the RCM holds significant research collections of material dating from the fifteenth century onwards. These include autographs such as Haydn's String Quartet Op. 64/1, Mozart's Piano Concerto K491 and Elgar's Cello Concerto. More extensive collections feature the music of Herbert Howells, Frank Bridge and Malcolm Arnold and film scores by Stanley Myers. Among more than 300 original portraits are John Cawse's 1826 painting of Weber (the last of the composer), Haydn by Thomas Hardy (1791) and Bartolommeo Nazari's painting of Farinelli at the height of his fame. A recent addition to the collection is a portrait of the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke by Reginald Gray.

10,000 prints and photographs constitute the most substantial archive of images of musicians in the UK. The RCM's 600,000 concert programmes document concert life from 1730 to the present day.

People[link]

Since opening in 1882, the college has had a distinguished list of teachers and alumni, including most of the composers who brought about the "English Musical Renaissance" of the 19th and 20th centuries. Students in the time of Stanford and Parry included Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams and John Ireland.^[17] Later alumni include Benjamin Britten, Colin Davis, Gwyneth Jones, Neville Marriner, Trevor Pinnock, Anna Russell, Andrew Lloyd Webber and the guitarist John Williams.

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Royal College of Music, London Official website

v t e Music schools in the United Kingdom Music school Secondary Chetham's School of Music · City of Edinburgh Music School · Purcell School · St Mary's Music School · Wells Cathedral School · Yehudi Menuhin School Tertiary Academy of Contemporary Music · Birmingham Conservatoire · Brighton Institute of Modern Music · Cardiff International Academy of Voice · Guildhall School of Music and Drama · Leeds College of Music · Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts · London College of Music · National Opera Studio · Royal Academy of Music · Royal College of Music · Royal College of Organists · Royal Conservatoire of Scotland · Royal Northern College of Music · Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama · Tech Music School · Trinity College of Music Military Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming · Royal Military School of Music Associated organisations Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music · Conservatoires UK · European Association of Conservatoires  Category

Coordinates: 51°29′59″N 0°10′37″W / 51.49972°N 0.17694°W / 51.49972; -0.17694

The term music school refers to an educational institution specialized in the study, training and research of music. Different terms refer to this concept such as school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger institution) or conservatory.

Music instruction can be provided within the compulsory general education system, or within specialized children's music schools such as the Purcell School. Elementary school children can access music instruction also in after-school institutions such as music academies or music schools. In Venezuela El Sistema of youth orchestras provides free after-school instrumental instruction through music schools called núcleos. The term “music school” can be also applied to institutions of higher education under names such as school of music, such as the Jacobs School of Music of Indiana University, music academy, like the Sibelius Academy, music faculty as the Don Wright Faculty of Music of the University of Western Ontario, college of music, characterized by the Royal College of Music and the Berklee College of Music, music department, like the Department of Music at the University of California, Berkeley or the term conservatory, exemplified by the Conservatoire de Paris and the term higher school of music or university of music such as the Cologne University of Music known as Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln in German. Instruction includes training in the performance of musical instruments, singing, musical composition, conducting, musicianship, as well as academic and research fields such as musicology, music history and music theory.

Graduates of Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg Conservatory include Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sergey Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, and George Balanchine.

History[link]

Notre Dame Cathedral. Notre Dame School was an important centre of polyphonic music.

Although music and music education may have been in existence for thousands of years, the earliest history is speculative.^[1] Even when history starts to be recorded, music is mentioned more frequently than music education. Within the biblical tradition, Hebrew litany was accompanied with rich music, but the Torah or Pentateuch was silent on the practice and instruction of music in the early life of Israel. However, by I Samuel 10, Alfred Sendrey suggests that we find “a sudden and unexplained upsurge of large choirs and orchestras, consisting of thoroughly organized and trained musical groups, which would be virtually inconceivable without lengthy, methodical preparation.” This has led some scholars to believe that the prophet Samuel was the patriarch of a school which taught not only prophets and holy men, but also sacred-rite musicians.^[2]

The Schola cantorum (papal choir), may be the first recorded music school in history, when Gregory the Great (590–604) made permanent an existing guild dating from the 4th century ('schola' originally referred more to a guild rather than school). The school consisted of monks, secular clergy, and boys.^[3] Wells Cathedral School, England founded as a Cathedral School in 909 a.d. to educate choristers, continues today to educate choristers and teaches instrumentalists. However the school appears to have been refounded at least once.^[4]

Saint Martial school, 10th to 12th century, was an important school of composition at the Abbey of Saint Martial, Limoges. It is known for the composition of tropes, sequences, and early organum. In this respect, it was an important precursor to the Notre Dame School.^[5] It was the Notre Dame school (late 12th and early 13th century) which was the earliest repertory of polyphonic (multipart) music to gain international prestige and circulation. The school was a group of composers and singers working under the patronage of the great Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris.^[6]

The term Conservatory derives from Renaissance (16th century) Italy where orphanages were attached to hospitals. The Orphans (conservati) were given a musical education and the term gradually applied to music schools.^[7] The Conservatories have been the first secular institutions equipped for practical training in music. By the 18th century, Italian conservatories were already playing a major role in the training of artists and composers.^[8]

The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (English: National Academy of St Cecilia) is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, based in Italy. It is based at the Auditorium Parco della Musica in Rome, and was founded by the papal bull, Ratione congruit, issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prominent in Western musical history: Gregory the Great, for whom the Gregorian chant is named, and Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music. It was founded as a "congregation" or "confraternity" – a religious guild, so to speak – and over the centuries, has grown from a forum for local musicians and composers to an internationally acclaimed academy active in music scholarship (with 100 prominent music scholars forming the body of the Accademia) to music education (in its role as a conservatory) to performance (with an active choir and symphony orchestra).

It is in the city of Naples where the term “conservatorio” was strictly associated with a secular place for teaching and learning specializing in music education. In Naples, there were four conservatoires already active in the 17th and 18th century: "I poveri di Gesù Cristo", founded in 1599 by Marcello Fossataro and already including in their official record a “magister musicae” and “magister lyrae” in 1633 ; "Santa Maria di Loreto" where the composer Giovan Battista Pergolesi (1710–1736) studied; "La pietà dei turchini" was founded in 1583 and the earliest findings suggest musical activity around the year 1615; "Sant'Onofrio a porta Capuana", where the composer Giovanni Paisiello (1740–1816) studied and then thought, started teaching music in the mid-1600 and in the following decades will give more priority to the “opera buffa”; plus one only for girls called "dell'Annunziata"^[9] It is in these very institutions that the so called Scuola Musicale Napoletana was developed thanks to the work of musicians and educators like Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725) and Francesco Durante (1684–1755), who was also Pergolesi’s and Paisiello’s teacher.

It was the example set in Naples, where admission was by competitive examination and tuition was free, that was then copied, with modifications, in many European cities, including Paris (1795), Bologna (1804), Milan (1807), Florence and Prague (1811), Warsaw and Vienna (1821), London (1822), the Hague (1826), and Liege (1827). The second half of the 19th century saw the network expanding to the Americas, Rio de Janeiro (1847), Boston (1853), Baltimore and Chicago (1868), Havana (1885), and Buenos Aires (1893). Establishments for advanced training in music were organized in the 1940s in several Asian and African countries, including Iraq, Lebanon, and Kenya.^[8]

To this extent, projects like El Sistema are more in line with the tradition set in Italy (where tuition at conservatoires are still free) than English speaking country where there is a tendency to charge students with very little access to bursaries (see the Royal Academy of Music or the Royal College of Music in the UK).

Primary and secondary education[link]

Specialist music schools[link]

Musikgymnasium Schloss Belvedere is a specialist music school in Germany

Specialist music schools exist in many countries and whose purpose is to identify, and assist, children with exceptional potential, to benefit from world-class specialist training as part of a broad and balanced education, which will enable them, if they choose, to proceed towards self-sustaining careers in music.^[10] These schools may be formally^[11] or informally attached to a Conservatory. Entry is typically between the ages of ages 8 and 18 and admission is through competitive audition. Schools may be public or independent, where schools are independent pupils may be in receipt of governmental^[12] or private scholorships. Typically as students progress through the school the time spent on music increases and on academic subjects decrease. These schools usually wholly comprise of instrumentalists but may also include choristers. Some schools (like conservatories) are broader and may cover the performing arts; music, drama, dance.^[13]

Music schools within schools[link]

Many music schools are located within existing schools. The pattern is quite diverse and may include;

Specialist music units (Scotland) where students are drawn from an area wider than the host schools catchment. Students will receive specialist music tuition within the music school but are fully integrated within the host school for other lessons. Entry to the specialist music unit or school is by competitive audition, which also effectively gives entry to the host school.^[14]

Many public or independent schools contain music departments, some of which achieve high standards. These are sometimes referred to as Music schools. Music Colleges in England are schools that get additional private and governmental money to specialise in music. Entry is to the host school and musical ability is not a criteria.^[15] Schools which perform highly may specialise in an additional area for example sports or technology.

300 children attend the Royal College of Music's Junior Department

Pre-college divisions[link]

Many Conservatoires or other tertiary level institutions have pre-college divisions or junior departments for children of school age.^[16] Typically the curriculum may includes individual lesson(s), orchestra, chamber music, theory, musicianship, composition and music technology. Classes are usually held on a Saturday and children attend normal schools during the week.

Music schools outwith the general education system[link]

Non-governmental^[17] or Private Schools^[18] of Music offers music education outside the general education system for students aged 4 to 20 + years. In general, students attend these schools, weekend or evening. These schools are typically provided by individuals, charitable or commercial organizations.

Tertiary education[link]

Conservatoire[link]

The Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP). Georges Bizet and Claude Debussy studied at the 'Conservatoire de Paris'

Jacobs School of Music, is part of Indiana University and has more than 1,600 students

A conservatoire of music may also be called a conservatory, conservatorium, academy or college. Some schools or conservatories are exclusively focused on music.^[19] Others have a wider focus, for example covering music, drama and dance.^[20] Conservatoires are suitable for students who wish to develop their performance, conducting, or composition to a professional standard. Typically, they offer a high percentage of practical training combined with academic study and professional development for those considering a career in the creative arts. Individual teaching is the strength of most components.

Students have the opportunity to perform, conduct or have their music played on a regular basis, both informally and in public. This may be solo or as part of an orchestra, ensemble or band. Typically, conservatoires focus on Western classical music. However, some schools focus on traditional instruments for example Chinese instruments.^[21] Others may have departments for traditional music which includes both traditional and classical instruments for example bagpipes alongside the fiddle.^[22] Alternatively, students can focus on jazz, world music or pop music.^[23]

The time required to complete music degrees is generally not much different from degrees in other fields, i.e. 3–4 years for a Bachelor of Music degree, 1–2 years for a Master of Music degree, and 3–5 years for a Doctor of Musical Arts or Doctor of Music Degree. A PhD degree can be gained for areas such as musicology, music theory, music composition, or music education. Some schools may offer a non-academic degree that is solely performance based, such as the (United States) A.D. or Artist Diploma; this may be offered at the undergraduate and/or graduate level.

University schools of music[link]

University music departments, originally placed more emphasis on academic study of music, rather than performance. However, today, the division may not be so rigid with many often placing greater emphasis on performance now than they did in the past. The specific balance of vocational training and academic study varyies from one institution to another, and from one country to another Some countries separately define their institutions between university status and vocational university status, whilst other countries do not define such a rigid division. In addition to offering degrees similar to those offered at Conservatoires, some universities offer non-professional music-related degrees such as a Bachelor of Arts in Music or a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education. A number of previously independent Conservatoires have become affiliated to Universities ^[24]

See also[link]

St Mary's Music School, Edinburgh, has 70 instrumentalists and choristors aged 9–18

Country specific pages

• Music schools in India
• Music schools in Germany
• Music schools in Scotland
• Music schools in Serbia
• Music schools in the United States

Lists

• List of colleges and university schools of music
• List of pre-college music schools

National and International Organisations

• Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music
• Conservatoires UK
• European Association of Conservatoires
• (United States) National Association of Schools of Music

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Music schools

1. ^ The origins of music Nils Lennart Wallin, Steven Brown, Björn Merker ISBN 0-262-73143-6 retrieved 9 November 2010
2. ^ Lee Krähenbühl: A Theatre Before the World: Performance History at the Intersection of Hebrew, Greek, and Roman Religious Processional retrieved 9 November 2010
3. ^ Original Catholic Encyclopedia: Sistine Choir retrieved 9 November 2010
4. ^ Wells Cathedral School retrieved 9 November 2010
5. ^ Harvard Dictionary of Music: St Martial school retrieved 9 November 2010
6. ^ Britannica Encyclopedia: Notre-Dame school retrieved 9 November 2010
7. ^ Britannica Encyclopedia Retrieved 16 November 2010
8. ^ ^{a b} The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979)
9. ^ A. Della Corte, G. M. Gatti, Dizionario di musica, Paravia, 1956.
10. ^ Chethams Music School retrieved 14 November 2010
11. ^ Sächsisches Landesgymnasium für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber retrieved 14 November 2010
12. ^ English Aided Pupil Scheme retrieved 14 November 2010
13. ^ Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts retrieved 14 November 2010
14. ^ Sgoil Chiùil na Gàidhealtachd retrieved 14 November 2010
15. ^ Guildford County School retrieved 14 November 2010
16. ^ Manhattan School of Music Pre-college Division retrieved 14 November 2010
17. ^ Musik Fröhlich retrieved 14 November 2010
18. ^ Yamaha Music Schools retrieved 14 November 2010
19. ^ Royal Academy of Music retrieved 9 November 2010
20. ^ Juilliard retrieved 9 November 2010
21. ^ China Conservatory retrieved 14 November 2010
22. ^ Royal Scottish Academy for Music and Drama retrieved 9 November 2010
23. ^ Conservatorium van Amsterdam retrieved 14 November 2010
24. ^ Peabody Institute Retrieved 15 November 2010

Bryn Terfel CBE
Terfel in September 2010
Background information
Birth name	Bryn Terfel Jones
Born	(1965-11-09) 9 November 1965 (age 46) Pant Glas, Caernarfonshire, Wales
Occupations	Opera singer (Bass-baritone)

Bryn Terfel Jones CBE (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈbrɨn ˈtɛrvɛl]; born 9 November 1965) is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro and Leporello, but has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Wagner.^[1]

Biography[link]

Bryn Terfel Jones was born in Pant Glas, North Wales, the son of a farmer. His first language is Welsh. He knew of another Welsh baritone named Bryn Jones, so chose Bryn Terfel as his professional name. He had an interest in and talent for music from a very young age. A family friend taught him how to sing, starting with traditional Welsh songs. After winning numerous competitions for his singing, he moved to London in 1984 and entered the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he studied under Rudolf Piernay. (He has recorded that he initially applied to the music college in Cardiff but when the reply was addressed to ‘Miss Terfel’ he was so annoyed a Welsh College did not know Bryn was a man's name that he switched to London.) He graduated in 1989, winning both the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Award and the Gold Medal. The same year he came second behind Dmitri Hvorostovsky in the Cardiff BBC Singer of the World Competition, but won the Lieder Prize.^[2]

Career[link]

In 1990 Terfel made his operatic début as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte at the Welsh National Opera, and later in the same season he sang the title role in The Marriage of Figaro, a role with which he made his debut with the English National Opera in 1991. His international operatic career began that same year when he sang the Speaker in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels and he made his United States début as Figaro at the Santa Fe Opera.

In 1992 Terfel made his Royal Opera House, Covent Garden début as Masetto in Don Giovanni, with Thomas Allen in the title role. That same year he made his Salzburg Easter Festival debut singing the role of the Spirit Messenger in Die Frau ohne Schatten. This was followed by an international breakthrough at the main Salzburg Festival when he sang Jochanaan in Strauss's Salome. He went on to make his début as Figaro at the Vienna State Opera and his debut at Covent Garden as Masetto in Don Giovanni. That year, he also signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon, and returned to the Welsh National Opera to sing Ford in Falstaff. In 1993, he recorded the role of Wilfred Shadbolt in The Yeomen of the Guard, by Gilbert and Sullivan and sang Figaro to acclaim at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.^[3] Terfel has said that he would like to record "an album of Gilbert and Sullivan arias".^[4][5]

In 1994 Terfel sang Figaro at Covent Garden, and made both his Metropolitan Opera and Teatro Nacional de São Carlos débuts in the same role. He also sang Mahler's Eighth Symphony at the Ravinia Festival under the baton of James Levine. However, back surgery in 1994 (and again in 2000) prevented him from performing in several scheduled events. In 1996, he expanded his repertoire to include Wagner, singing Wolfram in Tannhäuser at the Metropolitan Opera, and Stravinsky, singing Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress at the Welsh National Opera.

In 1997 Terfel made his La Scala début as Figaro. In 1998, he had a recital at Carnegie Hall which included works by Wolf, Fauré, Brahms, Schumann, Schubert, and others. In 1999, he performed in Paris the title role of Don Giovanni for the first time and sang his first Falstaff at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; the latter of which he reprised in the inaugural production at the newly refurbished Royal Opera House.

In 2003 Terfel hosted and performed on the stage with opera tenor José Carreras and Christchurch soprano Hayley Westenra in front of the capacity crowd of 10,000 people from Faenol Festival in Wales.^[6][7]

In 2007 Terfel performed at the opening gala concert for the re-dedication of the Salt Lake Tabernacle with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on April 6–7. Later, he performed the title role in a concert version of Sweeney Todd that had four performances from July 5 to July 7 at London's Royal Festival Hall. This idea came from Terfel and his fellow bass-baritone and friend, the Irishman Dermot Malone.^[8]

Terfel has not shied away from popular music either. He has recorded CDs of songs by Lerner and Loewe and Rodgers and Hammerstein. In 2001 he commissioned and performed 'Atgof o'r Ser' ('The Memory of Stars') in the National Eisteddfod with the composer Robat Arwyn.

In September 2007 Terfel withdrew, to severe criticism, from Covent Garden's Ring Cycle when his six-year-old son required several operations on his finger. But he did successfully return to the Met in November 2007 to sing the role of Figaro.^[9] He told reporters in New York that he will now retire Figaro from his repertoire.

Terfel intended to take 2008 as a sabbatical from opera performances, but broke this to take the title role in WNO's revival of Falstaff. He had sung in this production in 1993, when he played the role of Ford.^[10]

In 2009 Terfel sang Scarpia and the Dutchman for the Royal Opera House.^[11][12]

In 2010 Terfel made his debut as Hans Sachs in Wagner's Die Meistersinger in a production for Welsh National Opera, in Cardiff and on tour. On 17 July 2010, the cast of this production gave a "concert staging" at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the 2010 BBC Proms, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and on BBC Four television.^[13] On 31 July, again at the Proms, he performed in a concert from the Royal Albert Hall celebrating the works of Stephen Sondheim, in his 80th birthday year.^[14]

Terfel took on the role of Wotan for the premiere performances of Robert Lepage's new Met staging of Wagner's Ring 2010-2012. He sang the role in all three of the four Ring operas that feature Wotan: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre and Siegfried.^[15]

In September 2011 Terfel joined Andrea Bocelli in his concert at the great lawn of Central Park, performing for over 70,000 people. In December 2011, he opened the season in La Scala as Leporello in Don Giovanni.

Personal life[link]

He is married to his childhood sweetheart, Lesley; the couple have three children: Tomos, Morgan, and Deio Sion. The family lives in Bontnewydd, near Caernarfon, Gwynedd. Terfel was a leading petitioner in the creation of Bontnewydd railway station on the rebuilt Welsh Highland Railway, and in part sponsored its construction.

Honours and awards[link]

Bryn Terfel continues to be a patron of the Welsh language and Welsh culture, facets of his life which are largely unknown outside his native Wales. Terfel has been awarded the honour, by the National Eisteddfod, of becoming a member of the Gorsedd of Bards. The Gorsedd was created in 1792 as a celebration of Welsh heritage, and inductees are considered to have contributed to Welsh culture.

In 2003, Terfel became a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, receiving the honour from the Prince of Wales. In 2006, he became the second recipient of the Queen's Medal for Music (the previous recipient was conductor Sir Charles Mackerras). In 2008, he was appointed an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford.^[16]

Terfel is also President of the Welsh homelessness charity Shelter Cymru and is Patron of Bobath Children's Therapy Centre Wales, a registered charity based in Cardiff which provides specialist Bobath therapy to children from all over Wales who have cerebral palsy.

Terfel was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Music by Bangor University during February 2012 for services to music.^[17]

Faenol Festival[link]

Terfel started the Faenol Festival, at the Faenol Estate near Snowdonia, Wales, in 2000. Billed as "Bryn Terfel's Faenol Festival" (often referred to as "BrynFest" or known in Welsh as "Gŵyl y Faenol"), it turned into an annual music festival featuring internationally famous opera singers as well as popular Welsh artists. In the same year he released We'll Keep a Welcome - The Welsh Album, an anthology of favourite traditional songs. In 2009 and again in 2010, he was forced to cancel the festival because of low public bookings, after having been voted a £250,000 grant by the Welsh Assembly.^[18]

Previously staged at the Faenol Estate, the event, a pop/classical/opera crossover, will be staged in London as part of the Southbank Centre's Festival of the World from 4-7 July 2012.^[19][20]

Operatic repertoire[link]

Terfel has performed the following roles on stage:^[21]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bryn Terfel at Official Deutsche Grammophon site
• Terfeliaid: Official site for followers of Terfel
• www.brynfest.com Faenol Festival
• Bryn Terfel biography from BBC Wales
• Bryn Terfel Interview at What's on in Wales