Tim Mead
Tim Mead (born 1981 in Chelmsford) is an English countertenor.
Life and career
Tim Mead was born in Chelmsford, Essex and began singing as a treble in the choir of Chelmsford Cathedral. He was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School (Chelmsford) and the Junior Department of Trinity College of Music where he studied cello and piano. He was an undergraduate at King's College, Cambridge, where he was a choral scholar studying musicology. After graduating, he won a number of scholarships for post-graduate studies at the Royal College of Music where he studied with Robin Blaze.[1]
Mead has performed with many leading interpreters including conductors Howard Arman, Harry Bicket, Ivor Bolton, William Christie, Stephen Cleobury, Marcus Creed, Laurence Cummings, Christian Curnyn, Alan Curtis, Ottavio Dantone, Paul Goodwin, Emmanuelle Haïm, Thomas Hengelbrock, Vladimir Jurowski, Raymond Leppard, Nicholas Kraemer, Alessandro de Marchi, Nicholas McGegan, Marc Minkowski, James O'Donnell, Antonio Pappano, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Andreas Spering, Masaaki Suzuki and Jos van Veldhoven. He has collaborated with opera directors including David Alden, Robert Carsen, Doris Dörrie, Stephen Langridge, David McVicar, Katie Mitchell, Ole Anders Tandberg, Deborah Warner and Chen Shi-Zheng.
He has appeared with ensembles including Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Academy of Ancient Music, English Concert, Les Arts Florissants, Le Concert d'Astrée, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Concerto Köln, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, Accademia Bizantina, Bach Collegium Japan, the Netherlands Bach Society, Combattimento Consort Amsterdam, and the RIAS Kammerchor.
Mead is a founding member of The Prince Consort.[2] The consort have recorded works by Ned Rorem, Brahms and Stephen Hough.
Opera roles
Mead's opera roles to date have included:[3]
- Boy/Angel 1 in George Benjamin's "Written on Skin" (Theatre du Capitole and Mostly Mozart Festival)
- Endimione in Francesco Cavalli's La Calisto (Bayerische Staatsoper)[4]
- Paggio in Cavalli's Ercole Amante (De Nederlandse Opera)[5]
- Arsamene in Cavalli's Xerse (Opera de Lille, Théâtre de Caen, Theater an der Wien)
- Innocent in Harrison Birtwistle's The Minotaur (Royal Opera, London)
- Oberon in Benjamin Britten's "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Bergen National Opera)
- Voice of Apollo in Benjamin Britten's "Death in Venice" (English National Opera)
- Ometh in John Casken's Golem (Opera de Rennes and Angers-Nantes Opéra)
- Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice (Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin)
- Ademto in Handel's Admeto (Göttingen International Handel Festival and Edinburgh International Festival)[6]
- Trasimede in Handel's Admeto (Handel Festival, Halle)
- Ottone in Handel's Agrippina (Opéra de Lille and Opéra de Dijon)[7]
- Ezio in Handel's Ezio (London Handel Festival)[8]
- Flavio in Handel's Flavio (Early Opera Company)
- Cesare in Handel's Giulio Cesare (Glyndebourne Festival Opera)
- Tolomeo in Handel's Giulio Cesare (Deutsche Oper am Rhein and English National Opera)
- Idelberto in Handel's Lotario (Kammerorchester Basel)
- Orlando in Handel's Orlando (Scottish Opera[9][10] and Chicago Opera Theater)
- Riccardo in Handel's Riccardo Primo (Opera Theatre of St. Louis)
- Oronte in Handel's Riccardo Primo (Kammerorchester Basel)
- Rinaldo in Handel's Rinaldo (Bach Collegium Japan)
- Eustazio in Handel's Rinaldo (Glyndebourne Festival Opera)[11]
- Bertarido in Handel's Rodelinda (Mercury Baroque, Houston)
- David in Handel's Saul (Opera North)
- Athamas in Handel's Semele (British Youth Opera)
- Siroe in Handel's Siroe (Oper der Zeit)
- Melo in Handel's Sosarme (London Handel Festival)
- Shepherd in Monteverdi's L'Orfeo (English National Opera and Handel and Haydn Society, Boston)
- Ottone in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea (Opéra National de Lyon, English National Opera, Norwegian National Opera and Ballet, Opéra de Lille and Opéra de Dijon)
- Farnace in Mozart's Mitridate (Classical Opera Company)
- Jalal in Julian Philips Varjak Paw (The Opera Group)
- Clearte in Agostino Steffani's Niobe (Royal Opera, London and Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg)
- Licida in Vivaldi's L'Olimpiade (Garsington Opera)
- Akhnaten in Philip Glass's Akhnaten (Vlaamse Opera)
Recordings
Mead has a wide-ranging and growing discography including the Gramophone Award nominated recording of Handel's Flavio with the Early Opera Company under Christian Curnyn (Chandos, 2010).[12] He is featured on 2 recordings as a treble chorister soloist.
References
- ↑ Biography at Musicmakers website
- ↑ The Prince Consort. Ensemble biography
- ↑ Biography at artist's website
- ↑ Bayerische Staatsoper page on Tim Mead
- ↑ Operatoday.com review by James Sohre
- ↑ Seen and Heard International review by Simon Thompson
- ↑ Concertclassic.com review by Luc Hernandez
- ↑ Guardian review by Erica Jeal The Guardian (London) 17 March 2005.
- ↑ Interview for COMMANDOpera
- ↑ Guardian review by Kate Molleson The Guardian (London) 16 February 2011.
- ↑ London Evening Standard review by Barry Millington Evening Standard (London) 5 July 2011.
- ↑ Telegraph review by Rupert Christiansen The Telegraph (London) 29 October 2010.
External links
- EngvarB from August 2014
- Use dmy dates from August 2014
- 1981 births
- Alumni of King's College, Cambridge
- Alumni of the Royal College of Music
- British male singers
- British opera singers
- British performers of early music
- Countertenors
- Living people
- Operatic countertenors
- People educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford
- Performers of early music
