Joseph Ward OBE (22 May 1932 in Preston – 27 April 2019Jennette Johnstone
Vale Joseph Ward
The Wagner Society in Queensland,Francisco Salazar
Obituary: English Tenor Joseph Ward Dies
operawire.com 8 May 2019) was an English

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

, formerly a

baritone A baritone is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the bass and the tenor voice-types. The term originates from the Greek (), meaning "heavy sounding". Composers typically write music for this voice in the r ...

, who created roles in operas by

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...

and

Michael Tippett Sir Michael Kemp Tippett (2 January 1905 – 8 January 1998) was an English composer who rose to prominence during and immediately after the Second World War. In his lifetime he was sometimes ranked with his contemporary Benjamin Britten ...

. He has also made a career as a singing teacher – his pupils include

Jane Eaglen Jane Eaglen (born 4 April 1960) is an English soprano particularly known for her interpretations of the works of Richard Wagner and the title roles in Bellini's ''Norma'' and Puccini's ''Turandot''. Background Jane Eaglen was born 4 April 19 ...

– and opera producer. In the 1950s, he toured with the

Carl Rosa Opera The Carl Rosa Opera Company was founded in 1873 by Carl Rosa, a German-born musical impresario, and his wife, British operatic soprano Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa to present opera in English in London and the British provinces. The company premiered ...

, appearing in several operas including the company's final production staged in Nottingham in 1956."The Carl Rosa Opera"
BBC, accessed 16 December 2016 As a baritone he created the role of Starveling in Britten's ''

A Midsummer Night’s Dream ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' is a comedy written by William Shakespeare 1595 or 1596. The play is set in Athens, and consists of several subplots that revolve around the marriage of Theseus and Hippolyta. One subplot involves a conflict amon ...

'' (1960), and in the same year sang the same composer's eponymous hero ''

Billy Budd ''Billy Budd, Sailor (An Inside Narrative)'' is a novella by American writer Herman Melville, left unfinished at his death in 1891. Acclaimed by critics as a masterpiece when a hastily transcribed version was finally published in 1924, it quick ...

'' in the radio-broadcast premiere of the revised two-act version.Michael Kennedy and Joyce Kennedy, Oxford Concise Dictionary of Music, 2007 He became principal baritone at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, making his debut there in 1962. He also created the role of Patroclus in Tippett's opera ''

King Priam ''King Priam'' is an opera by Michael Tippett, to his own libretto. The story is based on Homer's ''Iliad'', except the birth and childhood of Paris, which are taken from the ''Fabulae'' of Hyginus. The premiere was on 29 May 1962, at Coventry. ...

''. He recorded as a baritone the role of Sid in Britten's ''

Albert Herring ''Albert Herring'', Op. 39, is a chamber opera in three acts by Benjamin Britten. Composed in the winter of 1946 and the spring of 1947, this comic opera was a successor to his serious opera ''The Rape of Lucretia''. The libretto, by Eric Cr ...

'', conducted by the composer. He subsequently transferred to the tenor repertoire and became Covent Garden's resident principal tenor. A friend of

Joan Sutherland Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, (7 November 1926 – 10 October 2010) was an Australian dramatic coloratura soprano known for her contribution to the renaissance of the bel canto repertoire from the late 1950s through to the 1980s. She possessed ...

's, he was a principal tenor with the Sutherland-Williamson Grand Opera Company in a 1965 tour of Australia. In 1966, he appeared in the sole recording of

Bernard Herrmann Bernard Herrmann (born Maximillian Herman; June 29, 1911December 24, 1975) was an American composer and conductor best known for his work in composing for films. As a conductor, he championed the music of lesser-known composers. He is widely re ...

's only opera, ''

Wuthering Heights ''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moorland, moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their tur ...

'', conducted by the composer. In 1972, he founded the Opera School at the

Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music education ...

in Manchester and subsequently became Head of Vocal Studies there in 1986. He was appointed an OBE in the

1992 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours are announced on or around the date of the Queen's Official Birthday in the Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. The dates vary, both from year to year and from country to country. All are published i ...

List for his services. In Australia, he directed productions of ''Billy Budd'' and

Ralph 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 ...

's ''

The Pilgrim's Progress ''The Pilgrim's Progress from This World, to That Which Is to Come'' is a 1678 Christian allegory written by John Bunyan. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of theological fiction in English literature and a progenitor of ...

''. He sang as a tenor in the first recording of the latter opera, conducted by Sir

Adrian Boult Sir Adrian Cedric Boult, CH (; 8 April 1889 – 22 February 1983) was an English conductor. Brought up in a prosperous mercantile family, he followed musical studies in England and at Leipzig, Germany, with early conducting work in London ...

. He died on 27 April 2019. He was a teacher at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Joseph British male singers English opera singers Officers of the Order of the British Empire Musicians from Preston, Lancashire 1932 births 2019 deaths