Alastair Miles (born 11 July 1961, Harrow, England) is a British operatic and concert bass who has had an international career since the late 1980s.

Biography

Education

Alastair Miles was educated at

The John Lyon School ("May the fortune of the house stand") , established = 1876 , closed = , type = Public School Independent Day School , religion = , president = , head_ ...

, Harrow, and subsequently at

St Marylebone Grammar School St Marylebone Grammar School (SMGS) was a grammar school located in the London borough of the City of Westminster, from 1792 to 1981. History Philological School Founded as the Philological Society by Thomas Collingwood, under the patronage of ...

. He began flute lessons at the age of fourteen with the composer Albert Alan Owen, a pupil of

Nadia Boulanger Juliette Nadia Boulanger (; 16 September 188722 October 1979) was a French music teacher and conductor. She taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century, and also performed occasionally as a pianist and organist. From a ...

, who inspired him to think about a career in music. Miles studied flute at the Guildhall School of Music under Trevor Wye, Peter Lloyd and Edward Beckett. He became an orchestral player and taught at Stowe School and

Chetham's School of Music Chetham's School of Music () is an independent co-educational music school in Manchester, England. Chetham's educates students between the ages of 8 and 18, all of whom enter via musical auditions. Students receive a full academic education a ...

before embarking on his vocal career. From 1982 to 1985 he sang as a Lay Clerk in the choir of St. Albans Cathedral under the direction of Stephen Darlington. Having studied with bass-baritone Richard Standen whilst at the Guildhall, he was prompted by

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in English ...

baritone

Geoffrey Chard Geoffrey William Chard AM (born 9 August 1930 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian opera singer. He was a foundation member of the National Opera of New South Wales."''The Dictionary of Performing Arts in Australia — Oper ...

, a near-neighbour of his parents, to have lessons with Bruce Boyce. It was while he was with Boyce that he decided on a career in opera, and in 1986 won a place at the National Opera Studio.

Awards

Alastair Miles won the 1986 Decca-Kathleen Ferrier Award at

Wigmore Hall Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadi ...

and the 198
John Christie Award
at the Glyndebourne Festival. His recording of Mendelssohn's ''Elijah'', in which he sang the title role, won ''Gramophone'' magazine's Best Choral Award for 1993.

Career

Alastair Miles is well known for bel canto roles and is considered an ideal Verdi bass. He has been called 'the finest bass of his generation'.

Operatic roles

Alastair Miles has sung at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

(Sparafucile in ''Rigoletto'', Giorgio in ''I Puritani'' and Raimondo in ''Lucia di Lammermoor''); Paris – Bastille (Raimondo); Vienna (Prefetto in ''Linda di Chamonix'', Giorgio in ''I Puritani'', Cardinal Brogni in ''La Juive'', Silva in ''Ernani'', Zaccaria in ''Nabucco'', Walter in ''Luisa Miller'', Philippe II in ''Don Carlos'', Padre Guardiano in ''La Forza del Destino'' and Nick Shadow in ''The Rake's Progress'');

Bayerische Staatsoper The Bayerische Staatsoper is a German opera company based in Munich. Its main venue is the Nationaltheater München, and its orchestra the Bayerische Staatsorchester. History The parent ensemble of the company was founded in 1653, under Ele ...

(Giorgio, Raimondo, title role in Handel's ''Saul'', Zoroastro in ''Orlando'');

San Francisco Opera San Francisco Opera (SFO) is an American opera company founded in 1923 by Gaetano Merola (1881–1953) based in San Francisco, California. History Gaetano Merola (1923–1953) Merola's road to prominence in the Bay Area began in 1906 when h ...

(Giorgio, Raimondo and Basilio in ''Il Barbiere di Siviglia''); Amsterdam (Figaro in ''Le Nozze di Figaro'', Raimondo), Madrid (Philip II in ''Don Carlo'', Raimondo and Muley-Hassem in Emilio Arrieta's ''La Conquista di Granata''); Seville (Mephistopheles in Gounod's ''Faust''); Palermo (Walter in ''Luisa Miller''); Pesaro (Le Gouverneur in Rossini's ''Le Compte Ory'') and La Scala, Milan (''Melisso in Alcina'' and Lord Sidney in ''Il Viaggio a Rheims''). He regularly appears with all the UK opera companies. Roles for

Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) ( cy, Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru) is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales; it gave its first performances in 1946. It began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its ...

include Colline (''La Bohème''), Silva, Zaccaria, Mephistopheles (Gounod and Berlioz), Fiesco (''Simon Boccanegra''), Talbot (''Maria Stuarda'') and Enrico (''Anna Bolena''). For

Glyndebourne Festival Opera Glyndebourne Festival Opera is an annual opera festival held at Glyndebourne, an English country house near Lewes, in East Sussex, England. History Under the supervision of the Christie family, the festival has been held annually since 1934, ...

: Pogner (''Die Meistersinger''), Speaker (''Die Zauberflöte''), Fiesco. For

Opera North Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays and ...

: Philip II, Zaccaria and Leporello. For

: Colline, Harasta (''The Cunning Little Vixen''), Zaccaria, Silva, title role in Boito's ''Mefistofeles'', Ford in

Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

' ''Sir John in Love'' and Alfonso d'Este ("Lucrezia Borgia"). For the

Royal Opera House The Royal Opera House (ROH) is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply Covent Garden, after a previous use of the site. It is the home of The Royal Ope ...

, Covent Garden: Colline, Lord Sidney ( Rossini's ''Il Viaggio a Rheims''), Sparafucile, Rodolfo (''

La Sonnambula ''La sonnambula'' (''The Sleepwalker'') is an opera semiseria in two acts, with music in the ''bel canto'' tradition by Vincenzo Bellini set to an Italian libretto by Felice Romani, based on a scenario for a ''ballet-pantomime'' written by Eu ...

''), Elmiro (Rossini's ''Otello''), Banquo (''Macbeth''), Brogni (''La Juive''), Poliferno ('' Niobe, regina di Tebe'') and Dom Juam de Sylva in

Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was an Italian composer, best known for his almost 70 operas. Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini, he was a leading composer of the ''bel canto'' opera style duri ...

's ''Dom Sebastien''.

Concert performance

Alastair Miles has appeared with many conductors and orchestras including Giulini, Harnoncourt, Mazur, Muti, Chung, Rattle, Runnicles, Masur, Gergiev, Gardiner, Norrington, Davis and Dohnanyi. Recent projects have included performances of ''La Damnation de Faust'', ''The Dream of Gerontius'' and Handel's ''Messiah'' with Davis and the LSO, Schumann's ''Faustszenen'' with Harnoncourt and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra under Tilson-Thomas.

Recording

Hi
discography
numbers more than 80 recordings including Verdi's ''Don Carlos'', the songs of Richard Strauss, and the solo CD ''Great Operatic Arias'' for Chandos. He works with Opera Rara to bring neglected nineteenth century Italian and French Opera to a wider public. On that label he has recorded Ambroise Thomas' ''opera comique'', ''La Cour de Célimène''.

References

External links

Alastair Miles entry in Worldcat

Welsh National Opera's 2013 ''Anna Bolena'' - reviews

Opera North's ''Don Giovanni'' awarded Best Opera of 2012

''Opera Britannia'' review of ''Don Giovanni'' (2012)

Alastair Miles at Debrett's
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, Alastair 1961 births Living people 21st-century British male opera singers 20th-century British male opera singers