Davies, Arthur
Davies, Arthur
Davies, Arthur , Welsh tenor; b. Wrexham, April 11, 1941. He was a student at the Royal Northern Coll. of Music in Manchester. After appearing with Opera for All and singing in the Welsh National Opera chorus in Cardiff, he made his formal operatic debut as Squeak in Billy Buddy with the Welsh National Opera. In subsequent seasons, he sang such roles there as Nero, Nadir, Nemorino, Lensky, Rodolfo, Don Jose, Pinkerton, and Steva. In 1976 he made his first appearance at London’s Covent Garden in the premiere of Henze’s We Come to the River, and returned in later seasons to sing such roles as Alfredo, the Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier, Pinkerton, Steva, and Walton’s Troilus. He also made guest appearances with the Scottish Opera in Glasgow, the Edinburgh Festival, the English National Opera in London, and in Leipzig, Chicago, Moscow, and Buenos Aires. As a concert artist, he was known for his performances in works by Elgar.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire