(b Sydney, 29 Sept 1930). Australian conductor. He studied at the New South Wales Conservatorium and the RAM. He influenced the development of Joan Sutherland's career and conducted her performances from 1963 (they were married in 1954). They have appeared widely in the bel canto repertory, often with vocal parts ornamented by Bonynge. In 1976 he became musical director of Australian Opera.
Conductor Richard Bonynge began his studies at the New South Wales Conservatorium in Sydney as a piano student of Lindley Evans, a former accompanist of renowned Australian soprano Nellie Melba. At 14, Bonynge performed the Grieg piano concerto, an impressive beginning to an even more magical career. He later continued his studies at the Royal College of Music with pianist Herbert Fryer, in London. This institution frowned upon his desire to add conducting to his course load as, effectively, a second major area of study. Consequently, Bonynge forfeited his scholarship and continued his education privately. Also, having developed a serious interest in vocal technique, Bonynge began serving as accompanist to soprano Joan Sutherland. This relationship led to the couple's marriage in 1954, perhaps the most remarkable such professional union to date. It was at this point that the young musician transferred his attention to research of the bel canto operatic repertoire.
His debut on the podium in 1962 was uniquely sudden: the conductor of the Saint Cecilia Orchestra in Rome canceled due to illness and his replacement was struck by an automobile, leaving only Bonynge to take the podium. He began, still without formal training, to conduct Sutherland's performances, beginning with Gounod's Faust in Vancouver and Bellini's La Sonnambula in San Francisco, both in 1963. After his Covent Garden debut in 1964 with a performance of Bellini's I Puritani, Bonynge and his wife returned to Australia the next year. There he assumed the position of music director of the Sutherland-Williamson International Grand Opera Company.
In 1966, Bonynge had his Metropolitan Opera debut with Sutherland performing the title role in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. As his reputation and career blossomed, the conductor enjoyed continued success when he was named artistic director of the Vancouver Opera, a position he held from 1974-1978. Concurrently, Bonynge acted as music director of the Australian Opera from 1975-1986. In 1977, he was awarded the Commander of the British Empire. In 1983 he was given the same honor in his native Australia, and in 1989 the French government gave him the rank of Commandeur de l'Ordre National de Mérite.
Bonynge championed a revival of the vocal ornamentation that had been customary during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. This period was dear to Bonynge, who has carefully studied the operas of Bellini as well as French opera of the period, and has composed cadenzas used by many singers (including Sutherland). One of the world's premiere opera conductors, Bonynge has directed the masterpieces of the genre at the leading opera houses worldwide. His list of recorded operas is no less impressive and includes many works (including a number of nineteenth century ballet scores) previously not familiar to opera connoisseurs, such as those by Delibes, Graun, and Massenet. Most of these recordings feature Sutherland.
At Joan Sutherland's last performances, Bonynge conducted in front of audiences in the United States, Great Britain, and Australia. After she had left the stage for the last time, Bonynge continued his acclaimed career without pause. He remains one of opera's most important figures and is an important supporter of Australian singers and of the young artists' program at the Australian Opera, established during his tenure as music director. Richard Bonynge, with unquestionable devotion, gives his full attention to the world of opera. Bonynge has said, "I did not choose music, music chose me." One might observe, then, that opera chose a tireless and devoted champion. ~ David Brensilver, All Music Guide
Richard Alan Bonynge, CBEAO[1] (born 29 September 1930) is an Australian conductor and pianist.
Bonynge (pronounced BONNing) was born in Sydney and educated at Sydney Boys High School before studying piano at the Royal College of Music in London. He gave up his music scholarship, continuing his private piano studies, and became a coach for singers. One of these was Joan Sutherland, whom he had accompanied in Australia. They soon married and became a duo, first (until 1962) doing recitals. When the current conductor for a recital of operatic arias became ill, Bonynge stepped in and, from that time on, he conducted virtually all of his wife's performances.
His debut as staged opera conductor took place in 1963 in Vancouver, where he conducted Faust. The same year, also in Vancouver, he conducted Norma for the first time, starring Sutherland and Marilyn Horne[2]. He also conducted the English Chamber Orchestra in many recordings[3].
By doing some research and reading up on Massenet and Italian bel canto composers, Richard Bonynge discovered Massenet's own statement about his opera Esclarmonde being his "best achievement." This filled Bonynge with curiosity, even more because Esclarmonde had sunken almost into total oblivion and had hardly been performed at all since the end of the 19th century. He obtained a tattered vocal score of it in Paris, and subsequently bought the full orchestral score from an auction in New York City. Although his wife, initially, was skeptical about it, Richard Bonynge became an enthusiast of the work and eventually convinced her that she should perform the role of Esclarmonde herself. And so the San Francisco Opera and the Metropolitan Opera premieres of it took place in 1974 and 1976 respectively.[4]
In 1977 he was the founding Music Director of Vancouver Opera Orchestra (at its creation)[5], when he conducted Le roi de Lahore staged there (in which also his wife took part).[6]
He made his Metropolitan Opera debut on 12 December 1966, and his last performance there was on 6 April 1991. Most of those performances he conducted there between 1966 and 1987 were with his wife singing. In the beginning, his speciality (until early 1970s) was music of 18th and early 19th century, mostly in bel canto repertoire (Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti), then gradually added also middle Verdi (La traviata, Rigoletto, Il trovatore), Offenbach (Les Contes d'Hoffmann), then also Massenet (Esclarmonde and Werther[7]). He has also recorded each of Tchaikovsky's three ballets – Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty, and The Nutcracker.