Gidon Saks (born 15 January 1960) is an Israeli-born South African bass-baritone.
Gidon Saks (born 15 January 1960) is an Israeli-born South African bass-baritone.
Saks grew up in South Africa. His father was a first generation South African of Lithuanian descent. His mother was Scottish of Ukrainian extraction. He had an aunt who was an accomplished opera singer in South Africa but he had no interest in singing at first. He had originally wished to become an actor, dropping out of school at the age of sixteen because "I hated it". He auditioned for drama school at the Little Theatre under the direction of Mavis Taylor but was told he had to be eighteen for admission and they suggested he study singing in the meantime. He began his musical studies under Angelo Gobatto, the director of the opera school at the South African College of Music which is a department of the University of Cape Town. [1] In order to avoid the military conscription which was mandatory for all white South African males at the time, he moved to the U.K. to study at the Royal Northern College of Music, after a year at opera school in Cape Town. [1] While still a student at Northern College, he began drawing designs for college productions and these were used in Brecht/Weill's Happy End , Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana , Mozart's Don Giovanni and Berg's Wozzeck . [2]
At the age of 22, at the urging of his voice teacher in Toronto, Patricia Kern, he debuted in Brian Macdonald's production of The Mikado at the 1982 Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada, which went on tour as well as being televised. [3] With the Canadian Opera Company, he sang the role of Lord Rochefort in Donizetti's Anna Bolena , with Dame Joan Sutherland; Daland in Der fliegende Holländer ; Wurm in Luisa Miller ; Bluebeard in Bluebeard's Castle and Boris Godunov . [2] He acknowledged in an interview that his performances at this early time in his career were sometimes less than polished. Nevertheless, his admiration for Kern borders on the religious in his own estimation, such was her inspiration and influence on his career. [1]
As has been the case with many aspiring opera singers, the experience Saks gained by performing with some of the myriad small state-funded opera companies on the continent was invaluable. He earned a scholarship to the Zürich Opera Studio which led to a three-year contract at the Musiktheater im Revier in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Later he earned another three-year contract at the Bielefeld Opera in Bielefeld, Germany. During this time he began to receive engagements to sing in Berlin and he performed in the opening concert in the Berliner Festwochen (Berlin Festival) in César Franck's Beatitudes under the direction of Vladimir Ashkenazy. [2]
As well as designing the production, he directed Giovanni Paisiello's Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Gattières Festival in France, and as a free-lancer has designed four operas for the Scottish Opera, Glasgow, where he also produced and directed Maurice Ravel's L'enfant et les sortilèges and Puccini's La bohème . Later he was responsible for the successful design and direction of the premier of Le Grand Macabre by György Ligeti in Vienna. [2] He also directed Georges Bizet's Carmen , Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with the Berlin Opera Academy.
He has sung at the Royal Opera House where he made his debut in 1995 as Flint in Billy Budd , [1] the Opéra National de Paris, the San Francisco Opera, the Berlin State Opera, the Houston Grand Opera, the Teatro Real in Madrid, the New York City Opera, at La Monnaie in Brussels, the English National Opera, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, New Israeli Opera, and the Grand Théâtre de Genève. He has also been heard at the KlangBogen Festival in Vienna.
Recent years have included the roles of Dr. Pangloss in Bergen National Opera's production of Leonard Bernstein's Candide , Hagen ( Götterdämmerung ) for Seattle Opera and in London for English National Opera, Pizarro ( Fidelio ) and Kaspar ( Der Freischütz ) for the Deutsche Staatsoper, Philip II ( Don Carlos ) in Geneva and Palermo, Boris Godunov (title role) in London and Toronto, Claggart (Billy Budd) in Paris and London, Nick Shadow ( The Rake's Progress ) in London, Daland (Der fliegende Holländer), Kochubei ( Mazeppa ) for Welsh National Opera, Hunding ( Die Walküre ), Hagen (Götterdämmerung), and Scarpia ( Tosca ) for Washington National Opera, and the 4 villains ( The Tales of Hoffmann ) at the Royal Opera House.
Saks has sung world premiere performances of several roles including George Moscone in Stewart Wallace's Harvey Milk for the Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera and San Francisco Opera which was recorded on Teldec with Donald Runnicles conducting, Hamilcar in Philippe Fénelon's Salammbô at the Opéra Bastille, and the Messenger in Alexander Goehr's Arianna at the Royal Opera House. [4]
In an interview, Saks spoke about his early love of Leontyne Price's sound, as well as being impressed with Franco Corelli, Brigitte Fassbaender and "inevitably" Maria Callas. He was helped greatly in his development by his voice teacher at Northern College, John Cameron, as well as Patricia Kern who encouraged him to go out and audition while he was still a student in Canada. More recently, after his voice was damaged in a Wagnerian role (Der Fliegender Hollander), he sought out voice teacher Susanna Eken of whom he said, "It's fair to say that she rescued me, not so much because my voice was a mess but because my confidence had gone". [1]
Recordings include the title roles in Handel's Saul and Hercules , Claggart (Billy Budd), Apollyon and Lord Hate-Good ( The Pilgrim's Progress , Ralph Vaughan Williams). He has also appeared in film versions of Anna Bolena and The Mikado. He sang the part of Scarpia in a production of Tosca for Austrian television, an excerpt of which was used in the 2008 James Bond film Quantum of Solace . [5]
Saks is also founder and artistic director of Opera Garden, the Aberdeen International Youth Festival's Opera Project. He gives vocal master classes at various establishments, was a member of staff at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent in Belgium and currently teaches at Universität der Künste in Berlin.
Matti Kalervo Salminen is a Finnish operatic bass, now retired, who has sung at the most important opera houses of the world, including the Metropolitan and Bayreuth Festival. He is distinguished by an imposing figure and height, a cavernous, heavy, dark voice with an expansive upper register, and an expressive face. According to one reviewer, in his prime Salminen was "... simply the largest bass voice in captivity. It is not just its roar in powering over Wagner's maximum orchestra, but the way he carves the sonority and forms the color."
Mikhail Anatolyevich Svetlov is a Russian bass known for the range and beauty of his voice as well as his acting ability. His voice was described by The Washington Post as a "titanic, all-encompassing bass". He was nominated for a 2003 Grammy Award for a recording of Stravinsky's Histoire du Soldat and is the first Russian bass ever to perform the title roles in Don Giovanni and The Flying Dutchman.
Ludwig Weber was an Austrian bass.
Robert Andrew Lloyd is an English operatic bass.
Michael Chioldi is an American opera singer who has performed leading baritone roles in the opera houses and festivals of North and South America, Europe and Asia. He first appeared at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1995 when he was a winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition.
Michael Langdon CBE was a British bass opera singer. Despite little musical training, he joined the chorus of the Covent Garden Opera Company after the Second World War, graduating to minor and then major solo roles. Covent Garden remained his base throughout his career, but he sang as a guest in opera houses in Continental Europe and the Americas.
A bass is a type of classical male singing voice and has the lowest vocal range of all voice types. According to The New Grove Dictionary of Opera, a bass is typically classified as having a vocal range extending from around the second E below middle C to the E above middle C (i.e., E2–E4). Its tessitura, or comfortable range, is normally defined by the outermost lines of the bass clef. Categories of bass voices vary according to national style and classification system.
Robert Hale was an American operatic bass-baritone. He was first a leading baritone at the New York City Opera for a decade, where he performed, alongside Beverly Sills, mostly in Mozart operas and in the revival of belcanto opera such as Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.
Kurt Rydl is an Austrian operatic bass.
Stefan Szkafarowsky is an American opera singer (bass).
Yevgeny Igorevich Nikitin is a Russian bass-baritone opera singer. In the West he is usually billed as "Evgeny Nikitin"
Eric Halfvarson is an American operatic bass. He made his professional debut in 1973 with the Lake George Opera as Don Basilio in Rossini's The Barber of Seville. Since then he has specialized in the repertoire for the basso profundo, singing such roles as the Grand Inquisitor in Verdi's Don Carlos, Sarastro in Mozart's The Magic Flute, Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss and Wagner's König Heinrich in Lohengrin, Hagen in Götterdämmerung and Hunding in Die Walküre, as well as Claggart in Britten's Billy Budd. He has sung in many theaters including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, the Royal Opera House in London, La Fenice in Venice, La Scala in Milan, the Wiener Staatsoper and Deutsche Oper Berlin. He has taken part in the Bayreuth Festival.
John Ewen Cameron was an Australian baritone singer, who made most of his career in Britain. He became known for his portrayal of characters in modern operas by composers from Australia, Britain and continental Europe, and for his recordings with conductors such as Sir Thomas Beecham, Sir Adrian Boult, the young Colin Davis, and particularly Sir Malcolm Sargent.
Frederick Dalberg was an English-born South African opera bass. As an ensemble member of the Leipzig Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Covent Garden and Mannheim National Theatre, he excelled in German romantic operas, especially those by Richard Wagner, but also took part in several premieres of contemporary compositions.
Ain Anger is an Estonian opera bass.
Mikhail Petrenko is an opera singer who sings bass.
Bent Norup was a Danish operatic heldenbaritone. He was a member of the Royal Danish Theatre and opera houses in Germany, and appeared internationally, especially in stage works by Richard Wagner, including his signature role Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. He also performed in contemporary opera and in concert. He was appointed a knight of the Order of the Dannebrog.
Hans Günter Nöcker was a German operatic bass-baritone who was based at the Bavarian State Opera for decades, performing in several world premieres including Aribert Reimann's Lear, and also had an international career.
Kwangchul Youn is a South Korean operatic bass and academic voice teacher. He made an international career based in Germany, from 1994 to 2004 at the Berlin State Opera. He has performed leading roles at international opera houses and festivals, such as Gurnemanz in Parsifal at the Bayreuth Festival, Mephisto in Faust at the Vienna State Opera, and King Marke in Tristan und Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera.
Marita Napier was a South African operatic soprano, known internationally as a performer of music by Strauss and Wagner. She performed in 19 productions of Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen. In 1989, a recording of Wagner's Die Walküre with her in a Metropolitan Opera production was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording. Napier was considered one of the best Turandot, having performed the role for over 70 times including 1989 production by Franco Zeffirelli at the Met.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Academics | |
| Artists | |
