Paul Carey Jones

Paul Carey Jones (born Cardiff, Wales, 1974) is a baritone opera singer.

Education

Jones attended Ysgol Gymraeg Melin Gruffydd (primary school, ages 4–11) and Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Glantaf (secondary school, ages 11–18). He then studied Physics at The Queen's College, Oxford University, where he was awarded a Styring Exhibition in 1993, but "became increasingly aware that the course of the rest of my life was going to diverge from Physics". After completing a PGCE teacher training course at the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff, he then returned to Ysgol Glantaf to teach Physics for two years, before resigning in 1998 to study singing at the Royal Academy of Music and then the National Opera Studio in London, supported by Welsh National Opera.

Operatic career

Jones has appeared as a principal guest artist several times for Scottish Opera and Northern Ireland Opera, as well as for Welsh National Opera, at the Wexford Festival, Buxton Festival, for Opera East, Bampton Classical Opera, Diva Opera, and Lyric Opera Dublin.

Collaboration with Oliver Mears

Jones works regularly with the director Oliver Mears - their collaborations include Scarpia (Tosca), Verdi's Macbeth, Father (Hansel and Gretel) and Noye (Noye's Fludde) for Northern Ireland Opera, Speaker (The Magic Flute) for Nevill Holt Opera, and Sam (Trouble in Tahiti) and Monsieur Juste (The Three Wishes) for Second Movement.

Work in Contemporary Music

Jones has given world premiere performances of works by the composers Stephen McNeff (the oratorio Cities of Dreams to texts by Walt Whitman, William Blake and Rudyard Kipling at the Brangwyn Hall in 2007); John Metcalf (the roles of Dancing Williams, Sinbad Sailors, Willy Nilly, Mr Pugh, Mr Pritchard and Mr Floyd in Under Milk Wood: An Opera, Metcalf's adaptation of Dylan Thomas' play for voices); Peter Wiegold (his short opera based on the movie Brief Encounter in 2004); Jonathan Owen Clark (his opera Hidden States in Newcastle in 2004); Richard Elfyn Jones (his oratorio In David's Land at St David's Cathedral in 2006, and his set of songs Four Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins in 2008 - see below); Jonathan Dove (his opera for television, Man on the Moon, in 2006); Keith Burstein (playing the role of Mohammed in the opera Manifest Destiny at the 2005 Edinburgh Festival Fringe); David Power (his set Forever and Other Songs); Emily Hall (four settings of words by Toby Litt at the 2010 Grimsby St Hugh's Festival); Sadie Harrison (Heartoutbursts); and Timothy Raymond (From Dark to Dark). For Northern Ireland Opera in 2012 he created the roles of the Policeman in Ed Bennett's Jackie's Taxi, the Father in Christopher Norby's The Girl Who Knew She Could Fly and the Father in Brian Irvine's May Contain Flash Photography.

His work in contemporary opera has also included the role of Blazes in Peter Maxwell Davies' The Lighthouse at the Cantiere Internazionale d'Arte di Montepulciano, Sam in Leonard Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti for Second Movement, and Andy Warhol in the Italian premiere of Michael Daugherty's Jackie O at the Teatro Rossini in Lugo and the Teatro Comunale di Bologna. He has also covered the roles of Richard Nixon in John Adams' Nixon in China and Jaufre Rudel in Kaija Saariaho's L'Amour de Loin for English National Opera.

Collaboration with Llŷr Williams

As a member of Yehudi Menuhin's Live Music Now! scheme he gave over 200 concerts, mainly in partnership with the pianist Llŷr Williams, with whom he continues to collaborate; their debut album of classical songs, titled Enaid - Songs of the Soul, was released in November 2007 by Sain.

In November 2008 they premiered a set of songs, Four Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins, written specifically for them by the composer Richard Elfyn Jones, in a recital at Cardiff University.

In August 2011 they appeared at an evening recital at the Machynlleth Festival, giving their first performance of Schubert's Winterreise.

Recordings

A track from Enaid - Songs of the Soul was included on Sain's 2009 compilation album, The Welsh Gold Collection. Jones sings the roles of Squire Allworthy and Dobbin on Naxos' recording of Edward German's Tom Jones, released in August 2009.

His second solo album, Songs Now, of songs by contemporary British composers, was released in August 2012 by Meridian Records, with the pianist Ian Ryan.

On DVD, Jones appears as Andy Warhol on Dynamic's 2009 recording of Michael Daugherty's Jackie O, and in various roles on the BBC's 2005 film of Rachel Portman's The Little Prince.

A recording by Jones of Puccini's aria Questo Amor was used on the soundtrack of San Banarje's multi-award-winning 2010 film Bodhisattva.

Personal Life

Jones is married to the Estonian mezzo-soprano Kai Rüütel. The pair met while working on Scottish Opera's production of Hänsel und Gretel in 2011/12, and were married at Sagadi Manor in Estonia in August 2013.

References