Grahame Clifford

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Grahame Clifford (December 25, 1909? - 19??), was an English opera singer and actor primarily known for his work in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.

1 Life and career
2 Recordings
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Life and career

Clifford was born in Burnley, Lancashire. He attended the Royal Manchester College of Music and appeared there in The Marriage of Figaro in 1928.

Clifford's first professional London performance was in Handel's opera Giulio Cesare in 1930. He created the role of Ford in Vaughan Williams' opera Sir John in Love. Clifford joined the Carl Rosa Opera Company in 1931 and 1932, becoming principal baritone and singing the title role in Rigoletto, Tonio in Pagliacci, Alberich in Der Ring des Nibelungen, Dr. Miracle in The Tales of Hoffman, and many other roles. For several years after that, he left singing to act in plays and to produce plays and operas at the Westminster Theatre. Clifford also worked in radio and television, making his TV debut in 1938 as King Claudius in W. S. Gilbert's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. In 1938 and 1939 he returned to opera and was principal baritone with the Covent Garden Opera Company, and in the Grand International Opera Season.

Clifford then joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. From 1939 to 1946, he became the wartime replacement for Martyn Green, performing the comic baritone roles of Sir Joseph Porter in H.M.S. Pinafore, Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance, Reginald Bunthorne in Patience, the Lord Chancellor in Iolanthe, Ko-Ko in The Mikado, Robin Oakapple in Ruddigore, Jack Point in The Yeomen of the Guard, and the Duke of Plaza-Toro in The Gondoliers.

Clifford returned to grand opera, serving as principal baritone at the Royal Opera House from 1946 to 1952, singing such roles as Papageno in The Magic Flute, Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier, Ping in Turandot, Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Benoit in La bohème, and Alberich. In 1951, he also sang and recorded Spallanzani in a British film version of The Tales of Hoffman, and in 1952 he appeared in a BBC television production of Pagliacci, in the role of Tonio.

In the 1950s, Clifford joined with the J. C. Williamson Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company in Australia and later toured provincial England with Sadler's Wells Opera in 1962. He subsequently retired to New Zealand.