Walter van Dyk

Walter van Dyk (born May 20, 1961) is a British actor, singer and narrator.

Early life

Van Dyk is the son of Dutch composer Rudi Martinus van Dijk and the Montessori educator Jeanne Elisabeth Anna Koning. Born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, van Dyk was educated at Hull High School in Hull, Massachusetts in the United States, and later studied acting with Uta Hagen at the Herbert Berghof (HB) Studios in New York and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. He later studied singing at Trinity College of Music in London. Van Dyk has worked as an actor and singer in a variety of dramatic media including: theatre, film, television and radio. As well as being an actor and singer, he also has forged a career as a narrator working with musicians in classical and contemporary chamber works.

Career

Van Dyk made his first professional American stage debut in March 1980 at the American Repertory Theatre, Cambridge, Massachusetts in the ART's inaugural production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" playing Snug, the joiner. Since then Van Dyk has worked on both sides of the Atlantic. London West End theatre includes the London Evening Standard Award nominated "Enter the Guardsman" directed by Jeremy Sams at the Donmar Warehouse, the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park in "A Midsummer Night's Dream" directed by Michael Pennington, the Duke in "Two Gentlemen of Verona" directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, and George Ketteridge in the Olivier Award nominated production of Cole Porter's "High Society". Van Dyk appeared in the USA in 2005 in the Yellow Barn Music Festival production in Amherst, Massachusetts of Peter Maxwell Davies "Eight Songs for a Mad King" of which Vox/In Camera wrote: "Walter van Dyk in the title role was stupendous. This is a unique piece of music-theatre, the performance at Buckley Hall was superb, notably by the incomparable Walter van Dyk. A performance to remember!"" Van Dyk's acting career is not restricted to one medium, he combines stage work with film, television, and radio. In 1992 he played the lead role of Pieter in the BBC Screenplay "Can't Stop me Dreaming" directed by Bernard Rudden. His television career has continued with roles in "The Detectives", "Birds of a Feather", "Framed", "The Basil Brush Show", "London's Burning" and "Love Hurts". Van Dyk played the role of Thoolen in the Warner Bros. film "Incognito" directed by John Badham.

Van Dyk has made a specialty as narrator of classical chamber music most recently in the 2007 production of Igor Stravinsky's "A Soldier's Tale" with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields at Wilton's Music Hall in London. He has performed at the Aldeburgh Festival, the Cheltenham International Music Festival, and in the United States for Collage New Music in Boston as well as with the Peabody Trio in Chicago, San Francisco, and Boulder, Colorado. Other festivals include Music for Salem in NY, the Yellow Barn Music Festival in Vermont, and the Portland Chamber Music Festival in Portland, Maine.Van Dyk recently appeared at the English Theatre Frankfurt as Sidney Bruhl in Deathtrap by Ira Levin and in Dublin with the Storyteller's Theatre Company and the Irish Chamber Orchestra as Oberon in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Personal life

Since 1995 van Dyk and his partner, British violinist Anthony Marwood, reside in the village of Peasmarsh, East Sussex, which is the home of the Florestan Festival of Peasmarsh every summer in June.

Theatre credits

* "A Midsummer Night's Dream": Snug, the joiner (1980) - directed by Alvin Epstein, (American Repertory Theatre)
* "Happy End" - (1980)- directed by Walt Jones , (American Repertory Theatre)
* "Twelfth Night": Sebastian (1981)- directed by Judy Holmes (Publick Theatre, Boston)
* "The Spanish Brabanter' - (1985) (Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam)
* 'The Love of Don Perlimplin:" Don Perlimplin (1990) - directed by Liam Halligan, (Old Red Lion Theatre)
* "A Kurt Weill Cabaret": Singer (1991- ) - directed by Liam Halligan,Van Dyk & Company Production (Young Vic Theatre)
* 'She Loves Me'- (1993)- directed by Andrew McKinnon, (Perth Theatre)
* "Pacific Overtures": Sailor (1993) - directed by Paul Kerryson, (Haymarket Theatre (Leicester))
* "Cinderella": Baron Hardup (1993) - directed by Paul Kerryson, (Haymarket Theatre (Leicester))
* "Oh! Coward": Singer (1994)- directed by Lawrence Evans, Van Dyk & Company Production (Duke of Cambridge Theatre)
* "A Doll's House": Torvald (1995) - directed by Clare Davidson, Van Dyk & Company Production (Stadsschouwburg Amsterdam)
* "La Traviata": Gaston (1995) - directed by Nicholas Broadhurst (Drill Hall)
* "The Magic Flute": Tamino (1995) - directed by Nicholas Broadhurst (European tour)
* "What Now Little Man": Heilbutt (1996) - directed by Margarete Forsyth, (Greenwich Theatre)
* "Enter the Guardsman": The Wigsmaster (1997) - directed by Jeremy Sams, (Donmar Warehouse)
* "Sweeney Todd": Pirelli (1998) - directed by Peter Rowe, (Theatr Clywd)
* "Samuel Pepys"- The Secret Diaries: King Charles II (1999) - directed by Sue Pomeroy (Theatre Royal, Brighton)
* "A Christmas Carol" - Narrator & Fred (1999) - directed by Christer Berg (The English Theatre Company Stockholm)
* "Macbeth": Banquo (2000) - directed by Paul Stebbings, (TNT Theatre)
* "Measure for Measure": Lucio (2000) - directed by Christopher Gelan, (Theatre Unlimited, UK tour)
* "Macbeth": Banquo (2000) - directed by Christopher Gelan, (Theatre Unlimited, UK tour)
* "Oliver Twist": Fagin (2001) - directed by Paul Stebbings, (TNT Theatre)
* "The Threepenny Opera": Tiger Brown (2001) - directed by John Fulljames, The Opera Group (Richmond Theatre)
* "Two Gentlemen of Verona":Duke of Milan (2003) - directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, (Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park)
* "High Society": George Ketteridge (2003) - directed by Ian Talbot, (Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park)
* "A Midsummer Night's Dream": Egeus (2003) - directed by Michael Pennington,(Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park)
* "As You Like It": Duke Senior & Duke Frederick (2004) - directed by Ellie Jones, Orange Tree Theatre/Arundel Festival Co-production
* "The Jail Diary of Albie Sachs": Vlok (2004) - directed by Dana Fainaru, (Salisbury Playhouse)
* "Possessed": Dante Gabriel Rossetti (2006) - directed by Clive Paget, (Royal National Theatre Studio/Greenwich Theatre Showcase)
* "The Boatswains Mate": Benn (2007) - (Finborough Theatre)
* "Deathtrap": Sidney Bruhl (2008) - (English Theatre Frankfurt)
* "A Midsummer Night's Dream": Oberon (2008) - (Storyteller's Theatre Company and the Irish Chamber Orchestra)

Television and film credits

* "A Midsummer Night's Dream": Peaseblossom (1981) TV
* "Love Hurts": Barman (1990) TV
* "Framed": Bank Clerk (1992) TV
* "Can't Stop me Dreaming": Pieter (1992) TV
* "London's Burning": Peter (1994) TV
* "The Detectives": MC (1994) TV
* "Birds of a Feather": Gay biker (1994) TV
* "Incognito": Thoolen (1997)Film
* "The Basil Brush Show": Gordon Ramsbottom (2006) TV

Narration and music-theatre

* "The Love and the Lay of Cornet Christoph Rilke" by Viktor Ullmann: Narrator with pianist William Howard (1997), (Wigmore Hall and Warwick Arts Festival)
* "Ode to Napoleon" for piano quintet by Arnold Schoenberg: Narrator (2001) (Yellow Barn Music Festival, Music for Salem,NY and IMS Prussia Cove, Cornwall
* "The Love and the Lay of Cornet Christoph Rilke": Narrator with pianist Kyoko Hashimoto (Music for Salem, NY)
* "A Soldier's Tale" by Igor Stravinsky: Narrator (2002) with the Hebrides Ensemble at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh
* "The Four Seasons of Futurist Cuisine" for piano trio and narrator by Aaron J. Kernis: Narrator (2002) with the Peabody Trio in San Francisco, California and Chicago, Illinois and for the Portland Chamber Music Festival in the summer of 2008.
* Narrator in Igor Stravinsky's "A Soldier's Tale" with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields at London's Wilton's Music Hall (2005 and 2007), the Tron Theatre, Aldeburgh Festival, International Cheltenham Music Festival
* "Eight Songs for a Mad King" by Peter Maxwell Davies: King George III, Actor/Singer (2005) (Yellow Barn Music Festival, Amherst, Massachusetts)
* World premiere of "Sindbad" for piano trio and by Harold Meltzer: Narrator, (2005) (Chamber Music Society at Yale and the American Academy of Rome)
* "Frankenstein" by HK Gruber: Chansonnier (2006), Collage New Music, Boston, Masschusetts
* "A Soldier's Tale" by Igor Stravinsky: Narrator (2007), Portland Chamber Music Festival, Portland, Maine
* "The Seafarer" by Sally Beamish for piano trio and narrator : Narrator (2007), IMS Prussia Cove, Cornwall
* Tolstoy's "The Kreutzer Sonata": Narrator with the Dante Quartet in the Dante Summer Music Festival (2007)
* "The Seven Last Words of Christ" by Joseph Haydn, Narrator with the Dante Quartet in the Dante Summer Music Festival (2007)and the Brentano String Quartet in New York in (2009).
* T. S. Eliot's "Four Quartets": Narrator with the Dante Quartet in the Spitalsfield Festival in London (2007)
* "Ferdinand the Bull" by Alan Ridout for violinist and narrator with violinist Anthony Marwood
* "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Felix Mendelssohn, Oberon with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and Storyteller's Theatre Company, Dublin (2008)
* "The Four Seasons of Futurist Cuisine" by Aaron J. Kernis Narrator at the Portland Chamber Music Festival (2008) and the Yellow Barn Music Festival (2008)

References

Persondata
NAME = van Dyk, Walter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = British actor and singer
DATE OF BIRTH = May 20, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH = Toronto, Ontario, Canada
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =