Benjamin Luxon

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Benjamin Luxon CBE (born March 24, 1937 in Redruth, Cornwall, UK) is a retired Cornish baritone.

He studied with Walter Grünner at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and established an international reputation as a singer when he won a third prize at the 1961 ARD International Music Competition in Munich. Soon afterward he joined composer Benjamin Britten's English Opera Group and on their tour of the Soviet Union in 1963 sang the roles of Sid and Tarquinius in, respectively, Britten's operas Albert Herring and The Rape of Lucretia. In 1971, Britten composed the title role of his television opera Owen Wingrave specifically for Luxon's voice; Luxon created the role later that year with the English Opera Group.

The following year, 1972, Luxon made his début at both the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden – creating the role of the Jester in Peter Maxwell Davies' opera Taverner – and at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival, where he sang the title role in Raymond Leppard's realization of Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse. Thereafter he became a regular guest at both venues and also at Tanglewood in Massachusetts, USA.

In 1974, Luxon began his long association with the English National Opera which culminated in his appearance in the title role of Verdi's Falstaff in 1992. He made his Metropolitan Opera début (as Eugene Onegin) in 1980, his La Scala début in 1986 and his Los Angeles début (as Wozzeck) in 1988. He sang in most of the major European opera houses and made frequent appearances in Munich (Bayerische Staatsoper) and Vienna (Wiener Staatsoper).

In addition to his opera work, Luxon also developed a reputation as a concert-giver and recitalist with an unusually broad repertoire, ranging from early music through Lieder to contemporary song, music hall and folk music. He has also been recognised for his work rehabilitating parlour songs from the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, particularly in partnership with Robert Tear. He has made more than a hundred recordings, many featuring early and mid twentieth-century British songwriting and folksong arrangements by composers such as Britten, George Butterworth, Percy Grainger, Ivor Gurney, Roger Quilter, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Peter Warlock.

In 1990, Luxon's career was jeopardized by sudden hearing loss. He resumed international engagements in 1992, but continued fluctuation and deterioration in his hearing forced him to end his singing career a few years later. Since then, however, he has developed a career as a narrator and poetry reader whilst continuing to give masterclasses and direct opera.

For his services to British music, Luxon was made a CBE in 1986.

[edit] Operatic roles

(Performed and/or recorded, listed alphabetically)

Role	Opera	Composer
Count Almaviva	Il Barbiere di Siviglia	Rossini
Count Almaviva	"Le Nozze di Figaro"	Mozart
Don Giovanni	Don Giovanni	Mozart
Dr. Falke	Die Fledermaus	Johann Strauss II
Eugene Onegin	Eugene Onegin	Tchiakovsky
Falstaff	Falstaff	Verdi
Jester	Taverner	Peter Maxwell Davies
Owen Wingrave	Owen Wingrave	Britten
Papageno	Die Zauberflöte	Mozart
Sid	Albert Herring	Britten
Tarquinius	The Rape of Lucretia	Britten
Ulisse	Il Ritorno d'Ulisse	Monteverdi
Wolfram	Tannhäuser	Wagner
Wozzeck	Wozzeck	Alban Berg

[edit] Selected discography

Year	Work/s	Composer/s
1989	War Requiem	Britten	Atlanta Symphony Orchestra et al, cond. Robert Shaw Telarc, recorded 1988
	Simple Gifts Benjamin Luxon and Bill Crofut sing folk songs at Tanglewood		Omega
1992	I Love My Love: A Collection of British Folk Songs		Chandos Records
	Vaughan Williams: Songs of Travel	Vaughan Williams	Chandos Records, recorded 1986
	Quilter Songs	Roger Quilter	Chandos Records, recorded 1989
	Butterworth and Gurney: Songs	Butterworth, Gurney	Chandos Records, recorded 1989
1993	Owen Wingrave	Britten	English Chamber Orchestra et al, cond. Benjamin Britten Decca, recorded 1970
1994	The Dream of Gerontius	Elgar	Scottish National Orchestra et al, cond. Sir Alexander Gibson CRD Records
1998	Fauré: Requiem, Messe Basse	Fauré	English Chamber Orchestra et al, cond. Philip Ledger EMI Classics for Pleasure
	Warlock Songs	Peter Warlock	Chandos Records
2003	Enoch Arden	Richard Strauss	JRI Recordings
2004	Songs from "A Shropshire Lad", English Idylls, Bredon Hill	Butterworth	Decca
	Die Zauberflöte	Mozart	London Philharmonic Orchestra et al, cond. Bernard Haitink Arthaus Musik DVD