Thomas Allen (baritone)
Sir Thomas Boaz Allen (born 10 September 1944) is an English operatic baritone. He is widely admired in the opera world for his voice, the versatility of his repertoire, and his acting—leading many to regard him as one of the best lyric baritones of the late 20th century. In October 2011, he was appointed Chancellor of Durham University, succeeding Bill Bryson. Early years Born to Florence and Thomas Allen in the mining village of Seaham Harbour, County Durham, in 1944, Thomas Allen studied at Ryhope Grammar School from 1955 to 1964, becoming captain of his house and later head boy while also doing well in sports, such as in athletics, rugby and especially golf. It was during his time at school that his singing voice was first observed by the then Physics master, Denis Weatherley, himself a well-known baritone in the county and especially renowned for Northumberland songs. Weatherley would then go on to be Allen's first tutor, training the young baritone during lunch breaks. Allen's initial ambition was to be a doctor but this was later abandoned when he won a place at the Royal College of Music in 1964, where he studied with Hervey Alan for four years, specialising in oratorio and Lieder until 1968. In his final term he made his operatic stage debut as the baritone lead in the Royal College of Music Opera School production of Arthur Benjamin's opera Prima Donna. He also won the prestigious Queen's Prize while studying at the college which allowed him to study under James Lockhart, who noticed his talents. Under Lockhart, Allen then shifted his attention from Lieder and oratorio to opera and in 1969, he made his debut as D'Obigny in Verdi's La traviata with the Welsh National Opera (WNO). His early roles with the WNO also included Mozart's Almaviva, Guglielmo and Papageno, Rossini's Figaro, Falke in Die Fledermaus, Billy Budd, Posa, Eugene Onegin and Germont. In 1971, he made his Covent Garden debut as Donald in Billy Budd and he joined the company the following year. His solo Glyndebourne Festival debut was as Papageno in 1973. On 7 August 1974, during his BBC Proms performance, Allen collapsed at the end of his second solo, tried to recover for his third but collapsed again and was taken from the stage (he was replaced by Patrick McCarthy). He returned as Figaro in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro (1974), Guglielmo (1975) and Don Giovanni (1977) and it was during this time that he was hailed by one music critic as the finest English baritone since Sir Charles Santley. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1981 as Papageno. He left Covent Garden to become a freelance singer in 1979 although he still remains a guest artist with the company. He sang the title role in the British stage premiere of Busoni's Doktor Faust for the English National Opera in 1986 (a performance which was also commended in the 1986 Laurence Olivier Awards when the production won the award for Outstanding