Frank Ryan (5 October 1900 – 17 July 1965) was an Irish tenor.

Biography

Ryan was born in Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland in October 1900. His family moved to Tallow,

County Waterford County Waterford ( ga, Contae Phort Láirge) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region. It is named ...

, when Frank was six years old, and his parents began a victualing business. His voice developed late, and after it was discovered in his mid-20s that he was a tenor, he won the Tenor Solo award at the Dublin

Feis Ceoil Feis Ceoil ( ; "Festival of Music") is an Irish music organisation which holds an annual competitive festival of classical music. It was first organised in Dublin in 1897 by Dr. Annie Patterson and Edward Martyn for the purpose of stimulating musi ...

in 1931 and the Feis Matthew on four occasions. He joined the Fermoy Choral Society in 1935 and took leading roles in '' The Gondoliers'', '' Pirates of Penzance'', ''

The Geisha ''The Geisha, a story of a tea house'' is an Edwardian musical comedy in two acts. The score was composed by Sidney Jones to a libretto by Owen Hall, with lyrics by Harry Greenbank. Additional songs were written by Lionel Monckton and James Ph ...

'', '' The Yeomen of the Guard'', ''

H.M.S. Pinafore ''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which ...

'', '' The Mikado'', and in later years, '' Lilac Time.'' When Frank Ryan competed for the Joseph O'Mara cup at the Dublin

in 1938, he was commended by the adjudicator, Topliss Green, for his beautiful yet untrained voice, which Green compared to that of John McCormack. He turned professional when he joined the Dublin Operatic Society in 1939, and sang leading roles in '' Faust'', ''

Maritana ''Maritana'' is a three-act opera including both spoken dialogue and some recitatives, composed by William Vincent Wallace, with a libretto by Edward Fitzball (1792–1873). The opera is based on the 1844 French play ''Don César de Bazan'' by ...

'', '' The Bohemian Girl'', ''

Ernani ''Ernani'' is an operatic ''dramma lirico'' in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, based on the 1830 play ''Hernani (drama), Hernani'' by Victor Hugo. Verdi was commissioned by the Teatro La Fenice in V ...

'', '' The Magic Flute,'' ''

The Lily of Killarney ''The Lily of Killarney'' is an opera in three acts by Julius Benedict. The libretto, by John Oxenford and Dion Boucicault, is based on Boucicault's own play ''The Colleen Bawn''. The opera received its premiere at Covent Garden Theatre, Londo ...

'', '' Martha'', '' Cavalleria rusticana'' and '' La bohème''. He sang with well-known leading ladies of the time such as Joan Hammond and

Marion Studholme Marion Studholme (27 June 1927 – 6 January 2016) was an English soprano, best known for her performances with Sadler's Wells Opera Company, and as a regular performer on the popular BBC radio programme '' Friday Night is Music Night''. Studh ...

. He traveled extensively, appearing in London ( Albert Hall,

Royal Festival Hall The Royal Festival Hall is a 2,700-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, not far from Hungerford Bridge, in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade I l ...

, Seymour Hall), Glasgow, Belgium, Italy, France, Malta, and the United States. He gave many concerts all over the U.S., including The Royal Academy, Brooklyn, and a full recital in

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

, New York City, where he sang 32 songs. He appeared regularly on

Radio Éireann Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitt ...

, BBC and

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

. His last public performance was in Fermoy, County Cork, Ireland on 29 June 1965; he died three weeks later on 17 July 1965, aged 64.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Frank 1900 births 1965 deaths Irish operatic tenors Musicians from County Waterford 20th-century Irish male opera singers People from Tallow, County Waterford People from Fermoy