Wynford Evans

Wynford Evans became one of the leading tenors of his time. His interest in music began when he had piano lessons and at the age of eight cut his first singing recording of ‘Bless this House’ and ‘Daddy’.

Wynford Evans was born in Swansea on 30th April 1946 to William Thomas Evans and Lizzie Ann, a younger brother by four years to Hugh. He was educated at Dyfatty Primary school and then at Dynevor Grammar School for Boys from 1957 to 1963,

During his first year in grammar School, Wynford was a regular performer on Radio Wales on a Sunday morning show called Silver Chords which continued for four years. At this time he learnt to play the French horn and played with the Glamorgan Schools Orchestra.

In the Summer of 1964, aged 18, Wynford entered and won the tenor solo for 18 to 25s in the Royal National Eisteddfod which was held that year in his home town of Swansea.

Having passed A level music Wynford attended The Guildhall School of Music and Drama at John Carpenter Street in London where he was taught singing by Joyce Newton, among others, and after graduating went on to win the coveted Gold Medal for Singers in 1967.

In the same year Wynford also won the prestigious Young Welsh Singers Competition held in Cardiff and two years later won the tenor prize for singers at the s’Hertogenbosh International Vocal Competition.

In 1969 he had the honour and privilege of singing in front of Prince Charles during the Prince’s Investiture tour of Wales.

Wynford joined various singing groups including The Linden Singers, the Baccholian Singers, Intimate Opera Company, Phoenix Opera, The Kings Singers and Pro Cantione Antiqua. For ten years Wynford was part of Fortune’s Fire alongside lutenist Carl Shavitz with whom he made a number of early music recordings

Throughout his career Wynford appeared with all the major orchestras and choruses in this country as well as touring throughout Europe, Canada, Australia, North and South America, South Africa and the Far East. He made his debut in the U.S.A. in 1987 with the London Early Music Group at the Carnegie Hall. Festival appearances included Aix-en-Provence ('Messiah' with John Eliot Gardiner), City of London, Bath, Bach 300, Cardiff, Swansea and Llandaff and many others.

Opera appearances included roles with Netherlands Opera, Welsh National Opera, Kent Opera and Opera de Lyon, while his many recordings included Bach's 'B Minor Mass' and Purcell's 'The Fairy Queen', both with Sir John Eliot Gardiner, a recital of Welsh songs in memory of the late David Lloyd, a series of oratorios and sacred works with George Guest and the choir of St. John's, Cambridge, and Vaughan Williams' 'Hugh the Drover'. He performed as a soloist on recordings with Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and Joan Sutherland as well as many other famous singers. He broadcast regularly both in Britain and abroad, ranging from oratorio and song recitals to 'Friday Night is Music Night', 'Melodies For You', and 'Songs from the Shows'. Television appearances included a Channel 4 portrait of Handel, a series featuring songs from musicals and light opera for HTV and the 'Middle of the Road Show’ as well as an appearance on 321 with Dusty Bin. He was also the main soloist on ‘Topping on Sunday’

1985 was the 300th anniversary of the births of Handel, Bach and Scarlatti and the BBC, in conjunction with the European Broadcasting Union put on a live performance of Handel’s L’Allegro from St John’s, Smith Square and Wynford was asked to sing the tenor solos. The concert was broadcast to Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, West Germany, The German Democratic Republic and the UK. It was heard the following day in Canada, Greece, Iceland, Israel, Norway, Turkey, USA and Yugoslavia.

His wide ranging repertoire included all the major oratorio tenor roles from the most popular to rarely performed works such as Finzi's 'Intimations of Immortality' and also many other works by 20th Century British composers.

Wynford appeared many times at the Royal Albert Hall, performing not only Promenade Concerts but taking part in concerts with Massed Male Voice Choirs, and in 1993 sang as a soloist alongside Shirley Bassey at Cardiff Arms Park in front of a choir of 10,000 voices, to an audience of 35,000. Wynford was very busy, touring his popular 'The Musical World of Wynford Evans' - an evening's entertainment of arias from opera, oratorio, Gilbert and Sullivan, musicals and well known ballads. He also performed a series of recitals with accompanist Stephen Rose, and gave the first performance of a song cycle composed for him by the Welsh composer Gareth Glyn entitled ‘I Wefr Dadeni’ (Rebirth). This work was commissioned with funds from the Welsh Arts Council and provided the centrepiece for the S4C documentary on Wynford called ‘O’r Galon’ (From the Heart).

Wynford combined a very successful singing career with private teaching of students of all ages. His involvement with London University at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College began in 1989. He continued teaching, giving master classes, conducting concerts and giving choral workshops,

He conducted Egham and District Choral Society for eight years and organised a

Millennium Festival, during which he had arranged for the Minsk Orchestra from Belarus to play at three performances. In 2003 he made two trips to South Korea, to oversee and advise on the performance of a well known theatre group in Seoul. In between these two visits, he was an examiner at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff.

He had the privilege of singing in all the major concert halls in this country having taken part in 32 Promenade concerts, one year performing in both the first and the last night of a season and he had made over 40 professional recordings.

On 8 April 1967 Wynford married Judith Thomas at Dinas Noddfa Baptist Chapel in Swansea and started their lives together in Englefield Green, Surrey, producing two children – Geraint and Eryl. They later moved to Staines upon Thames where they lived until Wynford’s death on 23 September 2009. He was a devoted family man who spent as much time as possible with his seven grandchildren.

Involvement in the local community included the running of the Staines St David’s Day Society in which he, with his wife and two other couples organised twenty-five concerts in twenty-two years.

When he had the time Wynford was a keen golfer and for seven years ran a Celebrity-Am charity day at Laleham Golf Club on behalf of Scope. His other hobbies included playing Bridge, cricket, and watching rugby and horse racing.