Above: David Rendall as Don Ottavio in DON GIOVANNI
It’s sad to learn of the death of British tenor David Rendall, who enjoyed a brilliant international career until an onstage injury forced his premature retirement.
Read about Mr. Rendall’s rise from his studies at the Royal Academy of Music, London, to his great successes on the world’s foremost opera stages here. He later wrote of his sad demise here.
I had the good fortune to see David Rendall onstage at the Metropolitan Opera House where he sang more that 130 performances in NY City and with the Company on tour, beginning with his 1980 debut as Ernesto in DON PASQUALE. My first chance to hear him came when the Met brought their DON GIOVANNI to Boston. I later saw him – an expert Mozartean – in COSI FAN TUTTE and IDOMENEO, as well as Matteo in Strauss’s ARABELLA. His other Met roles included David in MESTERSINGER, Alfredo in LA TRAVIATA, and Tamino in ZAUBERFLOETE.
In 1983, David participated in the Met’s 100th anniversary gala, joining such luminaries as Edda Moser and Sesto Bruscantini in an ensemble from Rossini’s ITALIANA IN ALGERI, which brought down the House. Watch it here.
One of my favorite Rendall recordings is of the English-language production of Donizetti’s MARY STUART, which marked Dame Janet Baker’s farewell to the English National Opera; listen to their lovely duet here.
And here is the tenor’s “Il mio tesoro” from Mozart’s DON GIOVANNI.
David Rendall was married to the beloved mezzo-soprano Diana Montague; their son, Huw Montague Rendall, upholds the high musical standards set by his parents in his highly successful career in opera and lieder.
Oberon's Glade 