ALAN EWINGBass
British bass Alan Ewing began his working life much in demand by the world of Renaissance and Baroque Music with concerts for Sir Roger Norrington, Philip Pickett, Andrew Parrott and Paul McCreesh, making over 40 recordings with The Consort of Musicke and singing all the Monteverdi bass roles in productions at the Maggio Musicale Florence and in Pierre Audi’s cycle at the Netherlands Opera.
He then began a long association with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants initially as Osmin in Strasbourg but most frequently as Polyphemus (Acis & Galatea) from the Teatro Colòn Buenes Aires to Salzburg, this signature role has also taken him to the Berliner Staatsoper with the Akademie für Alte Musik, again in Salzburg with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre, with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and for Paul McCreesh and the Gabrieli Players.
So for many years Handel has dominated; the title role of Hercules in Berlin, Jephtha in Lucerne and Paris for David Stern and planned for Welsh National Opera, La Resurrezione for Trevor Pinnock, Semele for Ivor Bolton, Lotario at the Karlsruhe Handel Festival, Achilla on Marc Minkowski’s tour and DG recording of Guilio Cesare, and Susanna on the 30th anniversary tour of Les Arts Florissants.
His work now extends into mainstream bass repertory; Osmin in Aix-en-Provence for Minkowski and with Andreas Delfs and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Sarastro for Steuart Bedford, Seneca for Christian Curnyn, Baron Ochs at the New Zealand Festival, Bartok’s Bluebeard in a production for John Fulljames, Rocco and Heinrich der Vogler in Nantes, Leporello for Jean-Claude Malgoire, Sparafucile and Ferrando for Kenneth Montgomery, Verdi’s Requiem in the Royal Festival Hall, roles in Les Troyens with Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra, Fafner (in concert for the Oxford Opera Orchestra), Kutuzov (War & Peace) and roles in Peter Grimes, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Billy Budd for Richard Hickox, and the title role of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd for Opera Colorado.
At the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden he has recently sung in Salome for David McVicar and Philippe Jordan, Zuniga in Francesca Zambello's Carmen with Daniel Oren, and in Thomas Ades' Powder her Face.
Engagements in 2012 include, for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Lord Fortune in Judith Weir's Misfortune, which he premiered at the 2011 Bregenz Festival, and 2nd Soldier in Salome, Lady Bracknell in Gerald Barry's The Importance of being Earnest for Thomas Ades and the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group at the Barbican and Symphony Hall, Birmingham and Zebul in Welsh National Opera's revival of Jephtha.
