John Brownlee

John Brownlee as Sharpless in Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

John Donald Mackenzie Brownlee (7 January 1900^[1] – 10 January 1969) was an Australian operatic baritone.

Biography

John Brownlee was born in Geelong, Victoria. As a boy, he became a junior naval cadet in the Royal Australian Navy, serving during World War I. Following service, he studied accounting. He entered a singing contest in Ballarat, winning first prize even though he had never had a lesson. Several singing engagements followed. One of these, a performance of Messiah, was attended by Nellie Melba, who convinced him to go to Paris for serious study with Dinh Gilly. His debut took place at Covent Garden on 8 June 1926, in the performance of La bohème in which Melba made her farewell appearance. That autumn he was engaged by the Paris Opera, the first time a British subject had been made a permanent member of that company; his Paris debut was in Thaïs in 1927.

On 17 February 1937, he appeared for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera. The opera was Rigoletto. Besides making important appearances elsewhere, Brownlee remained a regular at Covent Garden, the Paris Opera, and the Met, making his last performance there in March 1957.

Brownlee's greatest successes were in the Mozart repertory, particularly at the Glyndebourne Festival. He was also acclaimed in Salome and Pelléas et Mélisande. After retiring from singing Brownlee became a stage director, making his debut at the Met on 27 November 1958 during a performance of Die Fledermaus.

Brownlee died in New York in 1969. An Australian scholarship in his name was first awarded after his death in 1969.

Notes

References

• Encyclopedia of the Opera by David Ewen (Hill and Wang, New York; 1955)
• "Brownlee, John Donald Mackenzie". Australian Dictionary of Biography (Online ed.). http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070456b.htm. Retrieved 2007-01-13. 
• John Brownlee - baritone - Brownlee Memorial website

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