Richard Suart was born in Lancashire‚ and studied at St John’s College‚ Cambridge‚ and the Royal Academy of Music. He began his operatic career with the English Music Theatre Company and Opera Factory‚ and is now much sought after‚ particularly in music theatre‚ contemporary opera and‚ of course‚ as a comedian in the more standard repertoire.
He has worked for all the major British opera houses‚ including performances of The Pirates of Penzance (Major-General)‚ The Mikado (Ko-Ko)‚ Die Fledermaus (Frank) and La Bohème (Benoit and Alcindoro) for English National Opera; at Opera North he created the role of Stan Stock in Benedict Mason’s Playing Away; and for Welsh National Opera and at Covent Garden he sang Jack Point in The Yeomen of the Guard. At Garsington he has sung Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola‚ and Antonio in Le Nozze di Figaro‚ at Grange Park the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe and Don Inigo Gomez in L’Heure Espagnole and Andrea Chenier at Opera Holland Park. He has been a member of the D’Oyly Carte since 1988 and has sung many of the Savoy operas for them‚ also Orpheus in the Underworld and La Vie Parisienne. For Music Theatre Wales he created the role of King Arthur in their première of Lynn Plowman and Martin Riley’s ‘adventure’ Gwyneth and the Green Knight‚ and for Pimlico Opera he sang in the British première performances of Shostakovitch’s Cheryomushki.
Productions abroad have included Donizetti’s L’Ajo nell‘Imbarazzo in Batignano; Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King in Gelsenkirchen‚ Milan‚ Helsinki‚ Strasbourg‚ Stavanger and Paris. He sang Mason’s Chaplinoperas with the Ensemble Modern in Germany‚ Portugal‚ Holland and Austria‚ and gave world première performances of Param Vir’s Snatched by the gods and Broken Strings for De Nederlands Oper in Amsterdam and Munich‚ and subsequently for Opera Transparant in Antwerp‚ Rotterdam and Rouen. He has sung Chaplinoperas ith the Ensemble Intercontemporain in New York and Paris‚ Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon with the Ensemble Intercontemporain in Paris‚ and Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre at the Salzburg Festival and the Châtelet‚ Paris. For the Reisopera in Holland he has sung in Peter Grimes‚ Reigen and The Mikado. He has made two visits to New York for performances of The Mikado with City Opera; he has also sung Ko-Ko in Vancouver and Penang. Recently he has given performances of Dido and Aeneas in Bremen and Turin‚ and Les Noces in Brussels.
He has enjoyed a long association with Diva Opera for whom he has appeared as Dr. Bartolo‚ Gianni Schicchi and Dulcamara; he has also directed and appeared in three operettas for the company‚ Trial by Jury‚ Die Fledermaus and Cox and Box in the UK‚ the Channel Islands‚ Switzerland and France.
Recordings include Eight Songs for a Mad King for Finnish TV and Channel 4‚ Turnage’s Greek for BBCTV and Decca‚ Bernstein’s Candide and Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream; also Purcell’s The Fairy Queen and Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld. Savoy operas include The Gondoliers and Iolanthe with the D’Oyly Carte; also The Mikado‚ The Pirates of Penzance‚ HMS Pinafore‚ The Yeomen of the Guard and Trial by Jury with Welsh National Opera under Sir Charles Mackerras. Most recent recordings include The Geisha‚ The Maid of the Mountains and Sullivan’s The Contrabandista - all for Hyperion‚ and The Little Prince‚ a new opera by Rachel Portman‚ recently shown on BBC and distributed by Sony on CD and DVD.
His involvement with the works of Gilbert and Sullivan has led him to create an entertainment‚ As a Matter of Patter‚ which he has performed with his wife at many venues in the UK‚ South Africa and the Middle East. He has appeared at the BBC Proms as the Duke of Plaza-Toro‚ The Lord Chancellor and Sir Joseph Porter and has made many other appearances at Gala Concerts both in the UK and North America. In 2003 he took part in the Venetian premiere of The Mikado at the Palafenice. He has also given performances with Opera della Luna at London’s Bridewell Theatre of The Parson’s Pirates‚ and for Diva Opera has made his first production for the company of Trial by Jury. He is a regular visitor to the International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival‚ held in Buxton each summer‚ and is a Vice President of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society. In 2004 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.
Current and most recent engagements include Mr Walter Afterlife in the Holland Festival and with L’Opéra National de Lyon‚ Playing Away in Bregenz and St Pölten‚ French Ambassador Of thee I Sing‚ General Snookfield Let ’Em Eat Cake and Barabashkin Paradise Moscow at Opera North and in Bregenz‚ Baron Zeta The Merry Widow‚ Lesbo Agrippina at ENO‚ The Mayor Jenufa for Opera Holland Park and Lord Chancellor Iolanthe with the San Francisco Symphony.
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