Alan Sievewright (12 May 1934 – 23 January 2007) was a British designer, producer and opera impresario. In collaboration with his one time production partner Denny Dayviss, they produced "a treasury of operatic performances that those who saw them would never forget." A larger than life character, he helped launch the careers of many young artists.

Life and career

Sievewright was born in Edinburgh, but his family moved to London when he was a small boy. He began his career as a designer in London in the 1950s, training first with Balmain in Paris and later designing haute couture for high society and for Rank films and such productions as '' Masterpiece Classic'' (1971), '' The Young Ones'' (1961) and '' The Rebel'' (1961). Switching career in the early 1970s he began to independently produce semi-staged performances of opera in London with Denny Dayviss. One their most notable productions was Puccini's '' Turandot'' using the complete ending which

Alfano Alfano is a village and small ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy. As of December 31, 2012, the comune had a population of 1082. History There is little reliable evidence on the ancient history of A ...

had composed after Puccini died before the opera's completion. The 1982 performance at the

Barbican Centre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhi ...

featured

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as Turandot and Franco Bonisolli as Calaf. After pursuing

Maria Callas Maria Callas . (born Sophie Cecilia Kalos; December 2, 1923 – September 16, 1977) was an American-born Greek soprano who was one of the most renowned and influential opera singers of the 20th century. Many critics praised her ''bel cant ...

to ask her to record a version of ''

Peter and the Wolf ''Peter and the Wolf'' ( rus, Петя и Bолк, r="Pétya i volk", p=ˈpʲetʲə i volk, links=no) Op. 67, a "symphonic fairy tale for children", is a musical composition written by Sergei Prokofiev in 1936. The narrator tells a children's s ...

'', she directed him to

Rudolf Nureyev Rudolf Khametovich Nureyev ( ; Tatar/ Bashkir: Рудольф Хәмит улы Нуриев; rus, Рудо́льф Хаме́тович Нуре́ев, p=rʊˈdolʲf xɐˈmʲetəvʲɪtɕ nʊˈrʲejɪf; 17 March 19386 January 1993) was a Soviet ...

who subsequently recorded it for Sievewright. As he became more successful he attracted prominent members of the British and international arts scene to his flat in

Hyde Park Square Hyde Park Square is a residential, tree-planted, garden square one block north of Hyde Park fronted by classical buildings, many of which are listed and marks a crossover of Lancaster Gate and Connaught Village neighbourhoods of Bayswater, Lon ...

, London where the threw parties and whose guests included

Marlene Dietrich Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; ...

, Elaine Stritch and Ava Gardner. In the 1990s Sievewright teamed up with Chris Hunt of

Iambic Productions Iambic Productions Limited is an independent television production company specializing in the fields of music, arts and drama founded by producer Chris Hunt in 1988. The company was a part of production and distribution Group DCD Media since its ...

and Richard Price of Prime Time to create ''OnLine Classics'' - a series of documentaries about stage, screen and opera - a collaboration which went on to win many awards. He was later elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Sievewright died at the age of 72 after a long illness. His life partner, the musicologist Jeremy Parsons, had predeceased him.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sievewright, Alan 1934 births 2007 deaths British designers Impresarios British television producers Opera managers 20th-century British businesspeople