André Turp

André Turp (December 21, 1925, Montreal - February 25, 1991, Montreal) was a Canadian tenor, particularly associated with the French and Italian repertories.

Life and career

André Turp took private voice lessons with Edward Woolley and Frank H. Rowe, before entering the Montreal Music Conservatory, where he was a pupil of Ruzena Herlinger. He was then awarded a grant and went to Italy to study with Hélène Vita. He made his stage debut in 1950 in operettaswith the "Variétés Lyriques", in Montreal. He also took part in several programs with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

His true operatic debut took place in 1956, at New Orleans, where hesang Roméo in "Roméo et Juliette", Rodolfo in "La Bohème", and Cavaradossi in "Tosca". He then appeared with the Opera Guildof Montreal, in the late 1950s, as Macduff in "Macbeth", and Fenton in "Falstaff".

His major breakthrough came in London, at the Royal Opera House, where he made his debut on February 5, 1960, as Edgardo in "Lucia di Lammermoor", opposite Joan Sutherland. He was to appear with that company for several seasons in numerous roles including; the Duke of Mantua, Alfredo, Turridu, Rodolfo, Cavaradossi, etc. He was invited to the Glyndebourne Festival in 1961, where he sang in Henze 's "Elegy for Young Lovers".

At about the same time, he began a long association with the Opéra-Comique and the Palais Garnier, adding to his repertoire roles such as "Werther" (a role he sang with great success an estimated 500 times in Europe), Faust, Don Jose in "Carmen", Hoffmann in "Les contes d'Hoffmann", etc. He also appeared in Switzerland, Spain and Portugal.

In the 1970s, for the BBC he participated in performances of the original versions of Verdi 's "Simon Boccanegra" and "Don Carlo", which have been recently released by Opera Rara.

Turp retired from the stage in 1983. He taught at the Montreal Music Conservatory from 1979 until 1989, and served on jurys for international competitions in Toulouse and Verviers.

Sources

* "The Encyclopedia of Music in Canada", Gilles Potvin.

External links

* [http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/PrinterFriendly.cfm?Params=U1ARTU0003505 André Turp] The Canadian Encyclopedia