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Loren Driscoll

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black and white photograph of head of young man with white skin and dark hair
Driscoll in 1962

Loren Driscoll (April 14, 1928 – April 8, 2008) was an American tenor who had an active international career from the 1950s through the mid-1980s. Driscoll was particularly noted for his performances in contemporary operas and sang in many world premieres.

Biography

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Driscoll was born in Midwest, Wyoming and after studies at Syracuse University and Boston University made his professional operatic debut in 1954 as Dr. Cajus in Verdi's Falstaff with Opera of Boston. During the late 1950s and early 1960s Driscoll sang several roles with Santa Fé Opera. He made his company debut there in 1957 as Tom Rakewell in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress and went on to sing Edgar Linton in the world premiere of Carlisle Floyd's Wuthering Heights (1958) and Hermann in the United States premiere of Paul Hindemith's Neues vom Tage (1961). In 1962 Driscoll became a principal singer with the Deutsche Oper Berlin and remained based with company for the next 25 years, while also singing at the Salzburg Festival, Glyndebourne, and several other European and North American opera houses.[1] His great performance at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Lord Barrat in the opera Der junge Lord by Hans Werner Henze (1965) awarded him the honorary title of "Kammersänger".

He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1966 as David in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, a role he sang 23 times with the company between 1966 and 1972. He also appeared at the Met as Alfred in their 1967 production of Die Fledermaus.[2]

In the 1950s Driscoll also sang in several Broadway musicals: as the Imam of the Mosque/The Bangle Man in Kismet, Freddy Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady, and Jerry Devine in the premiere of Marc Blitzstein's Juno (1959).[3] Also for Blitzstein, Driscoll performed the role of Leo Hubbard in the composer's Regina with the New York City Opera in 1958, and appears on the recording of that production. Also on record, he can be heard singing in English language performances of Stravinsky's Renard the Fox and The Wedding (the recording of which features Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland, Lukas Foss, and Roger Sessions playing the four pianos). Both recordings were conducted by Stravinsky himself.

Driscoll died in Berlin, on April 8, 2008.[4]

Opera roles created

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Roles created by Loren Driscoll include:

References

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  1. ^ Cummings (2003) p. 206
  2. ^ Metropolitan Opera
  3. ^ Loren Driscoll at the Internet Broadway Database. See also Time Magazine (23 March 1959)
  4. ^ "Celebrity Death Date by First Name". AbsoluteNow.com. Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 8 April 2010.
  5. ^ Driscoll also wrote the English version of the original German libretto. See Boosey & Hawkes

Sources

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