John Shirley-Quirk

John Shirley-Quirk was born in Liverpool in August 1931 and read chemistry at the University of Liverpool before turning to singing in his mid-twenties. He studied with Roy Henderson and made his début with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1961 as the Doctor in *Pelléas et Mélisande*. He joined the English Opera Group in 1964 and the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in 1973.

His career was particularly defined by his collaborations with Benjamin Britten. He sang the seven baritone roles in the world premiere of *Death in Venice* at Aldeburgh in 1973 — the work composed for him and for Peter Pears in their last theatrical partnership before Britten’s death. Beyond Britten he created roles in operas by Tippett (*The Knot Garden*), Maxwell Davies (*Taverner*), Maw and Bennett, and worked extensively as an oratorio bass-baritone in the central Bach Passions and Handel oratorios. He was also a leading recitalist in the German lieder, English song and twentieth-century French repertoire. His operatic work spanned the standard Mozart roles (the Count, Don Alfonso, the Speaker in *The Magic Flute*) and the wider concert repertoire.

Shirley-Quirk was appointed CBE in 1975. He died in Bath in April 2014. Music Preserved’s archive includes a substantial range of his Britten, contemporary and recital work.