“It was a lesson in
vocal technique, emphasising that heroic tenor parts by no means need to be
bellowed” wrote a critic when hearing Glenn Winslade as Florestan which “he
sang with flexible voice and secure vocal line as well as radiant high
notes”. In a review about his interpretation of Erik it was written “The
artist gives out a voluminous voice; he is therefore not just a built-up
Tamino who would have no business with Wagner”. Nevertheless everything
had originally begun with Mozart for the Australian tenor and even now, when
approaching the essential Wagnerian roles it is important to him to
contribute stylistic subtlety and vocal elegance from his Mozart experience
to the heavier repertoire.
Born in Australia,
Glenn Winslade first studied in Sydney and then in Vienna. During the first
years of his career he became well-known for his interpretation of Mozart
roles at the major opera houses in Australia, the United Kingdom and Europe,
also singing operas by Monteverdi, Gluck and Cherubini before his change of
repertoire in 1994. He performed lyric-dramatic roles such as Matteo in
Strauss’ Arabella for the Deutsche Oper Berlin and Alfredo in Verdi’s
La Traviata in Wiesbaden before his first venture into the dramatic
repertoire with an outstandingly successful Florestan at the Bregenz
Festival.
He went on to perform
to great acclaim other dramatic roles such as Hüon in Weber’s Oberon
in Antwerp, Max in Der Freischütz,
Apollo in Richard Strauss’ Daphne and Samson in Samson et Dalila
by Camille Saint-Saens. Glenn was warmly acclaimed by both press
and audience for his first Lohengrin in the 2001 Opera Australia
Sydney summer season. Also in 2001 he debuted in the role of Der Kaiser in
Die Frau ohne Schatten by Richard Strauss at London’s Royal Opera
House Covent Garden, a role he also performed for his much praised debut at
the Metropolitan Opera New York.
In Australia Glenn has
sung with the Australian Opera (now Opera Australia), Victoria State Opera,
State Opera South Australia, West Australian Opera and Canberra Opera and in
New Zealand for Wellington Opera. In the UK he has sung for all the major
companies including Royal Opera Covent Garden, English National Opera,
Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Scottish Opera. He has sung in concert and
opera for the New Israeli Opera House and appeared in major roles at all the
important opera houses of Europe.
Since early in his
career as a concert artist, Glenn has appeared frequently at the major
musical centres of Europe, America and Australia performing the tenor solos
in works such as Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Elgar’s
The Kingdom & Caractacus and Szymanowski’s 3rd
Symphony. His appearance at London’s Albert Hall performing Edward
Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius in the BBC proms was considered
‘sensational’ as were his performances with the Vienna Musikverein in
Verdi’s Requiem, Mahler’s 8th Symphony, Janacek’s
Glagolictic Mass and Hanz Pfitzner’s cantata Von deutscher Seele.
He has performed many of these works in the other major concert
halls of Europe and sang Schönberg’s Gurrelieder at the re-opening of
the newly renovated Vienna Konzerthaus. Other works he has performed
include Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and Mahler’s Das Lied von der
Erde.
Glenn Winslade is the
tenor soloist on recordings of Mahler’s 8th Symphony and
Beethoven’s 9th Symphony on the Haensler label and
was nominated for a Best Classical Album Grammy for his LSO recording as
Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes, which he performed in concert with
the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis in London and New
York.
Glenn has worked with
many well-known conductors in both opera and concert including Gerd
Albrecht, Sir Andrew Davis, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Nikolaus Harnoncourt,
Marek Janowski, Raymond Leppard, Fabio Luisi, Lorin Maazel, Sir Charles
Mackerras, Ingo Metzmacher, Marc Minkowski, Antonio Pappano, Georges Prêtre,
Ulf Schirmer, Jeffrey Tate, Christian Thielemann, Edo de Waart and Ralf
Weikert.
For Glenn's testimonial,
click here.
