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Born: November 24, 1907 - Shaw, Lancs, England
Died: November 5, 1963 - London, England |
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The English bass, Norman Walker, studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music and then with Walter Hyde at the Guildhall School of Music in London, where he returned to teach in 1951.
From 1935 to 1939 Norman Walker appeared in the international seasons at Covent Garden, as the Commendatore, King Mark and Gurnemanz, among other roles. After war service he returned to the resident company there. He also appeared with Sadler's Wells Opera, with which he toured in 1946. His King Mark was regularly praised for its dignity and beauty of tone, and his roles also included Polyphemus, Pogner, King Henry, Sarastro and Colline. In 1951 he created the Evangelist in Ralph Vaughan Williams's The Pilgrim's Progress. At Glyndebourne he appeared in 1937 as the Commendatore and the Speaker in Die Zauberflote and in 1946 alternated with Owen Brannigan as Collatinus in the first performances of Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia. A stroke ended his stage career in 1955. |
