Born Sydney, 8 February 1943.
Died 10 October 2021.
Australian baritone.
Malcolm Donnelly studied at the Sydney Conservatorium and Opera School and made his debut with the Australian Opera in 1966, working with them for two seasons. He won the Sydney Sun Aria Competition and in 1969 a scholarship from Australian Opera Auditions, allowing him to study abroad. He was accepted for further study at the London Opera Centre in 1970.
Donnelly joined Scottish Opera in 1971, and toured widely (along with Dennis O'Neill) with the Opera for All group (in Lucia and The Fair Maid of Perth). His main company debut the following spring was as the Herald in Otello - the cast included Kiri Te Kanawa's role debut as Desdemona. He spent most of the next decade with the company, singing small parts at first, but gradually taking on the major roles by Mozart (Almaviva, Leporello), Verdi (Macbeth, Rigoletto, Germont, Boccanegra), Puccini (Marcello, Scarpia, Sharpless) and others. He created Lentulus in The Catiline Conspiracy (Hamilton 1974) and took over the major role of Rev Wringhim in Confessions of a Justified Sinner (Wilson 1976) created by Thomas Hemsley. He returned to the company in later years, repeating Scarpia and adding Kurwenal.
He sang Antonio Le nozze di Figaro in the Edinburgh Festival production (1975 and '76) directed by Sir Geraint Evans and conducted by Daniel Barenboim. The cast included Evans, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Teresa Berganza, Ileana Cotrubas and Heather Harper. Two other Scottish Opera regulars were also in the cast - Bill McCue as Bartolo and John Robertson (Curzio). The production was recorded.
Donnelly appeared at the Wexford Festival as Herod in Massenet's Hérodiade (1977), and returned the following season as Sebastiano in d'Albert's Tiefland.
He sang Pizarro on the Glyndebourne Tour and in Nancy.
Donnelly sang for many years in London at ENO, giving most of his big Verdi parts as well as the title role in Mazeppa (Tchaikovsky). A successful international career followed, including frequent return visits to sing in Australia, where he taught after retirement from singing.
In 2005 he was awarded AM (Member of the Order of Australia) in 2005.
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