Private Passions - Thomas Allen

Michael Berkeley's guest today is Sir Thomas Allen, whose trajectory from modest origins in the North East of England to international acclaim as one of the finest operatic baritones of our time in part inspired the story of 'Billy Elliot'. After studying singing at the Royal College of Music he made his professional operatic debut as Rossini's Figaro over 40 years ago, and has gone on to sing many leading roles in a range of works from Mozart to Benjamin Britten at the world's great opera houses and festivals. He is widely admired in the operatic world for his beautiful voice, versatility in repertoire, and supreme acting ability. This season his roles have included Don Alfonso (Cosi fan tutte), Faninal (Der Rosenkavalier), Gianni Schicchi and Beckmesser (Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg). Thomas Allen's private musical passions, as revealed to Michael Berkeley, encompass three operatic excerpts - the Overture to Humperdinck's 'Hansel and Gretel', which he loves both for its childlike simplicity and Wagnerian overtones; the Prelude to Act III of Wagner's 'Die Meistersinger', and the final scene of Monteverdi's 'The Return of Ulysses' in Jeffrey Tate's recording of the controversial arrangement by Hans Werner Henze, in which Allen himself sings the role of Ulysses. There's also an excerpt from Schubert's great Fantasia in F minor for piano duet, and the 'Moonlight' episode from Frank Bridge's tone-poem 'The Sea', which reminds him of his own origins in a North-Eastern fishing village.