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The English tenor, Ian (Harold) Partridge, was a chorister at New College, Oxford, and a music scholar at Chifton College before pursuing his training in London at the Royal College of Music and the Guildhall School of Music. From 1958 to 1962 he commenced his career as a piano accompanist while singing in the Westminster Cathedral choir.
In 1958 Ian Patridge he made his operatic debut as a singer in Bexhill, and from 1962 he pursued a solo career. He is one of Britain's leading lyric tenors. His wide repertoire encompasses the music of Monteverdi, J.S. Bach and George Frideric Handel, Elizabethan lute songs, German, French and English songs with piano, and contemporary works including first performances. He appears regularly as soloist with major choirs and orchestras in Britain and throughout the rest of the world.
In recitals Ian Patridge is frequently accompanied by his sister Jennifer - a partnership that has received great critical acclaim. They are regular broadcasters for the BBC, and have given recitals all over the British Isles and Europe, and as far afield as South America, Turkey, Iceland and Australia.
The Thames TV production of Britten's St Nicholas with Ian Partridge in the title role, won the Prix Italia. He made his operatic debut at Covent Garden singing the role of Iopas in Berlioz' Les Troyens conducted by Sir Colin Davis, subsequently recorded by Philips.
Ian Partridge recently performed Façade at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam with Lady Walton, the composer's widow, for Dutch television. He continues to collaborate with the actress Prunella Scales with whom he has shared over 200 performances of the most successful production 'An Evening with Queen Victoria' all over the world. He has also enjoyed taking masterclasses on Lieder, English song and early music at venues as diverse as Aldeburgh, Vancouver, Trondheim, Versailles and Helsinki.
Ian Partridge has conducted master-classes on Lieder, English Song and Early Music, at Aldeburgh, Vancouver, Ravinia, Trondheim, Versailles and Helsinki. He continues to lead residential singing weekends, such as his annual course at Jackdaws Music Education Trust and has been a professor at the Royal Academy of Music since 1996. Among his pupils and/or singers who have attended his master-classes: Elizabeth Anker (Contralto), Stefan Berghammer (Tenor), Thomas Cooley (Tenor), Esther Ebbinge (Soprano), Flavio Ferri-Benedetti (Counter-tenor), Aaron Godfrey-Mayes (Tenor), Thomas Hobbs (Tenor), Gillian Keith (Soprano), Mary Nichols-Worrall (Mezzo-soprano), Alistair Ollerenshaw (Bass-Baritone), Stefan PD Runge (Bass-Baritone), Lars Terray (Baritone), Trine Wilsberg Lund (Soprano), Anna Whyte (Soprano), Edward Woodhouse (Tenor).
Ian Partridge was awarded the CBE in the 1992 New Year's Honours, for distinguished service to music.
His interests include bridge and racing. |
