Rolfe Johnson, Anthony
Rolfe Johnson, Anthony
Rolfe Johnson, Anthony , English tenor and conductor; b. Tackley, Nov. 5, 1940. He was a student of Ellis Keeler at the Guildhall School of Music in London, and later of Vera Rozsa. He gained experience singing in the chorus and appearing in small roles at the Glyndebourne Festivals between 1972 and 1976. In 1973 he made his formal operatic debut with the English Opera Group in Manta. In 1978 he made his first appearance with the English National Opera in London as Don Ottavio. He sang Tamino with the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff in 1979. In 1983 he appeared as Aschenbach at Glasgow’s Scottish Opera. In 1987 he made his first appearance at the Salzburg Festival in Schmidt’s Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln. On Dec. 22, 1988, he made his debut at London’s Covent Garden as Jupiter in Handel’s Semele. In 1990 he returned to the Salzburg Festival to sing his first operatic role there, Monteverdi’s Orfeo. From 1990 he served as director of singing at the Britten-Pears School in Snape, but also continued his singing career. In 1994 he appeared as Peter Grimes in the reopening of the Glyndebourne Festival and sang Aschenbach at the Metropolitan Opera in N.Y. As a concert artist, he received many engagements with leading orchs. in Europe and North America. In 1997 he made his debut as a conductor with Orfeo in St. Louis.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire