Geraint Evans

Sir Geraint Evans was born in Pontypridd, South Wales, in February 1922, the son of a colliery clerk. He trained as a tailor and worked through the war years with the Royal Air Force, singing in concert parties before studying at the Hamburg State Opera School under Theo Hermann and Fernando Carpi from 1946. He made his début at Covent Garden in 1948 as the Nightwatchman in *Die Meistersinger* — beginning a forty-year association with the house.

He was the central British baritone of the post-war international operatic stage. His core repertoire combined Mozart (Figaro, Leporello, Don Alfonso, Papageno) with the Verdi baritone roles (Falstaff in particular, which he sang at Glyndebourne, Covent Garden, La Scala, the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, the Paris Opéra and the Metropolitan Opera), and the comic and character roles in the wider operatic repertoire — Beckmesser, Iago, Macbeth, Wozzeck, Don Pasquale. He created the role of Mr Flint in the world premiere of Britten’s *Billy Budd* at Covent Garden in 1951, and worked extensively with Carl Ebert, Franco Zeffirelli, Luchino Visconti and Peter Hall.

Evans was knighted in 1969 and made Companion of Honour in 1984. He published his memoir *Sir Geraint Evans: A Knight at the Opera* in 1984. He died in Aberystwyth in September 1992. Music Preserved’s archive includes a substantial range of his Mozart, Verdi and comic operatic work.