#8 Top Bass-Baritones
8.) Sir Donald McIntyre
"I think the job we have is to take the influence from ordinary life and to bring our experience to the theatre... It might come from your childhood or what your children said to you the other day.”-Sir Donald McIntyre
My 9th top bass-baritone is Sir Donald McIntyre. Born in New Zealand (which is part of the British Empire, although it has basically independent since 2000), Donald McIntyre gained his first title of Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1977 and was knighted in 1992. Like Bryn Terfel, being knighted by the queen says a lot about the success of their career!
Sir Donald McIntyre debuted as Zaccaria at the Welsh National Opera in 1959 (25 years old). With the company, he sang over 30 roles with them until 1967. He then made his Covent Garden debut as Pizarro and went on to sing Barak with them. Soon after, he started his Wagnerian career as Telramund in Lohengrin and then went on to be the first British singer to perform Wotan at the Bayreuth Festival. He is now considered one of the best Wotan’s of all time and his performances of the Dutchman and Han Sachs have become iconic.
Besides full productions or clips from the ring cycle, it’s difficult to find diverse, live performances of the great bass-baritone. Below are Wotan’s two arias, his monologue from Die Walkure, and a clip of the Dutchman. His singing and acting are just incredible!!!!! The performances speak for themselves. His technique is polished, his voice is incredibly powerful, and he embodies Wotan while he performs. If I could find more clips and videos of his performances, I probably would have him higher on my list, because everything I’ve seen so far I’ve just loved! He is an incredible opera star and these videos show why he was knighted!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNPBclhziXE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXM-811Z4z0