Richard Lewis

Richard Lewis was born in Manchester in May 1914 — christened Thomas Thomas — and worked through his late teens and twenties in factory and shipping-office jobs while studying singing privately. He enrolled at the Royal Manchester College of Music after wartime service and made his début with the Carl Rosa Opera Company in 1947. He joined the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 1948 and the Glyndebourne Festival in 1949, beginning a thirty-five-year association with both companies.

He was the leading British tenor of the post-war international opera and concert circuit. His central operatic roles included Tom Rakewell in the European premieres of Stravinsky’s *The Rake’s Progress*, Mark in Tippett’s *The Midsummer Marriage* (world premiere, 1955), Achilles in Tippett’s *King Priam* (world premiere, 1962), Castor in Rameau’s *Castor et Pollux*, Don Ottavio, Ferrando, Idomeneo, the title role in Mozart’s *La clemenza di Tito*, and Captain Vere in *Billy Budd*. He was a leading Glyndebourne Mozart tenor under Vittorio Gui, Sir Charles Mackerras and John Pritchard, and worked extensively in studio recording across both standard and contemporary repertoire. He also worked as an oratorio tenor in the British choral festival circuit.

Lewis was appointed CBE in 1963 and made Companion of Honour in 1974. He died in Eastbourne in November 1990. Music Preserved’s archive includes a substantial range of his Glyndebourne, Covent Garden and concert work.