Rodney Earl Clarke (born London 1978)is a British bass-baritone opera and concert singer of Jamaican origin.
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Clarke was born in Greenwich, London and is one of five children. He sang as a boy treble in the choir of St. George's Cathedral, Southwark RC and attended Dulwich College between 1989 and 1996.[1]He trained at the Royal Academy of Music London where he was awarded the Richard Lewis/Jean Shanks Award 2001 and recipient of a Peter Moores Scholarship.[2]
Clarke has emerged as one of the prominent young talents in British Opera and has been recognised for his interpretation of Bach, Handel and Mozart in particular.
In 2004 he made his debut singing the role of Tancredi in Monteverdi's opera Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda directed by the renowned Graham Vick with Birmingham Opera Company. Later that year he played the title role in Mozart's famous opera The Marriage of Figaro with English Touring Opera in a production which set the Beaumarchais play in 18th century Colonial Cuba. The year was triumphantly completed with Clarke's acclaimed portrayal of the Ferryman in Benjamin Britten's parable for church performance Curlew River again with Birmingham Opera Company featuring at the BBC Proms.
In 2006 Clarke made his role debut as Don Giovanni for Birmingham Opera Company and also made his film debut as Second Officer in Kenneth Branagh's version of Mozart's opera The Magic Flute. In May of that year, Clarke debuted at the Aldeburgh Festival were he created the role of Anastase in Sante an opera depicting the horrors of the Rwanda Genocide, composed by Emily Hall with the London Sinfonietta. In October that year Clarke featured in the Young Vic's first production after its refurbishment as Ashmodeus the demon in Jonathan Dove's community opera Tobias and the Angel. In December he was invited to turn on the Christmas Lights in Waterloo's 'The Cut' as he headed the renowned Christmas show at The Young Vic playing the eponymous hero of the newly-commissioned Jonathan Dove opera The Enchanted Pig.
Clarke then went onto make his European house debuts in France, Norway and Italy performing and creating new roles including Leo in Glenn Erik Haugland's opera Rebekkah for the Norwegian Opera, Marquis D'Obigny La traviata for Birmingham Opera Company, Jake in Porgy and Bess for Opéra National de Lyon and Pasha Selim in Mozart's opera Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail for Opera di Roma.
Clarke remains a regular on concert platform performing at St.John's, Smith Square, The Royal Festival Hall, The Purcell Room, The Royal Albert Hall, The Wigmore Hall and the 02 Arena. Highlights include Haydn's Creation at the Royal Albert Hall under Sir David Willcocks, Bernstein's Mass at the Barbican with the LSO under Marin Alsop, the title role in Porgy and Bess (concert version) with the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia, Rome under Wayne Marshall and recently bass soloist in Handel's Messiah alongside soprano Dame Emma Kirkby at the Olavsfestdagene Trondheim, Norway.