Opera Scotland

Don Garrard Suggest updates

Born Vancouver, 31 July 1929.

Died Johannesburg, 11 September 2011.

Canadian bass.

Don Garrard studied with Lotte Lehmann (in Santa Barbara, California) before training at the Royal Conservatory in Toronto. He later gained further experience studying in New York and Milan.

After his period in Toronto, he was a member of the Canadian Opera Company. Apart from his extensive career in Britain he sang in Santa Fe and in Latin America.  In 1988 he returned to Canada for performances as the Grand Inquisitor in Don Carlos and Daland in The Flying Dutchman. In 1992 he moved to Cape Town, singing a range of roles in Lohengrin, Fidelio, Don Carlos, Flying Dutchman, Tristan und Isolde and The Magic Flute. He also spent time teaching.

He moved to Britain in 1961, joining Sadler's Wells Opera immediately. Later debuts with British companies included Scottish Opera (1963), English Opera Group (1964, including the premiere of Curlew River) and the Royal Opera (1970). In 1973 he appeared at Glyndebourne in Einem's The Visit of the Old Lady, and he also sang with Welsh National.

He worked with Scottish Opera regularly over a fifteen year period, singing several major roles, such as Pimen, Boris and Dodon, which he did not perform in London. With Sadler's Wells/ENO, although he did sing Wotan and Duke Bluebeard, he was particularly noted for his Verdi interpretations, and in 1973 sang Talbot in the famous staging of Maria Stuarda that featured Janet Baker and Pauline Tinsley. Another role he sang regularly with the company was Trulove in The Rake's Progress, and he sings the role on Stravinsky's own recording made with the company. He also sang it in the famous Cox Hockney production at Glyndebourne