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Richard Green - Bass

 

Richard Green studied singing in London and Europe and performed there professionally for 12 years before returning to New Zealand where he is now based in Auckland as a singer and teacher of voice.

Wanganui born, he studied and obtained his LRSM music diploma there. He won vocal championships and scholarships in Wanganui and Wellington. Richard moved to London intending to further his studies, and was engaged as small part soloist by the English National Opera where he sang the London seasons and English tours for three years.

Foreign language experience in Germany took him to the Hildesheim Opera for a year and then further study at the Richard Strauss Conservatorium in Munich concurrent with a three year contract at the Bavarian State Opera.

He then became house principal bass with the Bremerhaven Opera where he remained for six years singing over 40 roles, guesting at other opera houses in Germany and appearing on the concert platform. A student of German elocution, he was also engaged for straight drama in that country where appearances in many comic operettas supplemented his performances in opera.

Richard Green has specialised in the basso profundo roles listing Sarastro (The Magic Flute), Don Basilio (The Barber of Seville), Ramphis (Aida), and The Grand Inquisitor (Don Carlos), among his favourites. He also performed many comic roles in Germany such as Don Pasquale, Mustafa Bey (The Italian Girl in Algiers) and Dr Bartolo (The Marriage of Figaro).

Upon returning to New Zealand he has sung numerous principal roles with Auckland Opera, the Wellington City Opera, Opera New Zealand, and in Australia with the Lyric Opera of Queensland. He has broadcast and toured with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra singing the bass solos in Beethoven's Symphony No.9, and has given an extensive range of concert performances throughout the country.

In the 2001 Central Park Summer Season of the New York Grand Opera Company he sang Ramphis, and Pistola (Falstaff). He performed the role of Hunding in Die Walküre in the acclaimed 2004 Adelaide Ring cycle.

He was engaged in all productions by NBR New Zealand Opera last season, singing Rambo in The Death of Klinghoffer, the Commendatore in Don Giovanni and the Marquis in La Traviata.

Richard Green

Discography

Die Walküre is the second in Wagner’s four opera Ring cycle and includes the well-known excerpt, the "Ride of the Valkyries"....