Alexander Anderson-Hall

                                                   Tenor

 

Lincolnshire born, Alexander completed his studies at the Royal College of Music in London. Immediately gaining the attention of a wider public as a young artist at Scottish Opera he made his debut singing a number of roles including Flavio in Norma, The Peacock in Param Vir’s Broken Strings, John Millar Jnr. for the World premiere of David Horne’s A Friend of the People and Janek in The Makropoulos Case. In 2010/11, Alexander was engaged by English National Opera on the Opera Works programme. 

 

Working with conductors and directors such as Sir Richard Armstrong, Richard Farnes, Julian Smith, Oliver Gooch, Christopher Alden, Martin Lloyd Evans, Martin Constantine and Anthony McDonald, his career soon led to international engagements, gaining critical acclaim on tour in the USA, Africa, Europe and the UK performing Nemorino, Tamino, Ferrando, Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, Don Ottavio (in a production for English Touring Opera by Olivia Fuchs), Don Ramiro, Nadir in The Pearl Fishers, MacDuff in Macbeth, Prince Vladimir in Prince Igor, Remendado, Ernesto in Don Pasquale,  The Duke of Mantua, Don Jose, Nemorino, Rodolfo, Fenton - The merry wives of Windsor.

 

Further significant engagements have included Tinca – Il Tabarro, Pedro - El Retablo de Maese Pedro (Master Peter's Puppet Show), Cecco in Il mondo della luna for Opera East Productions, The King in Perelandra (Donald Swann and C.S. Lewis), Ishmael in Nabucco and Michele in the Scottish Premiere of Menotti’s The Saint of Bleeker Street for Edinburgh Grand Opera and Astromante in Der Stein der Weisen (cover) for Garsington Opera.  He created the role of Daniel in the premiere of contemporary opera Manifest Destiny and in 2008 enjoyed a successful concert tour in the Far East followed by a series of gala concerts throughout Europe, including a recital at St. Jean Le Blanc, Orléans, France.

 

His versatility on stage has afforded further successes in musical theatre such as Tommy in Brigadoon, Tony in West Side Story, Ravinal in Showboat, the title role in Jesus Christ Superstar, Anthony in Sweeney Todd and in operettas including Marco in The Gondoliers, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, Nanki Poo in The Mikado, and The Defendant in Trial by Jury.  He also performed a two-week run of a Sondheim Review at the Edinburgh Festival.

 

Highlights on the concert platform include Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle, Mozart’s Requiem, The Creation by Haydn, Britten’s Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings, Handel’s Messiah, Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music, Puccini’s Messa di Gloria, and both the Dvorak and Rossini Stabat Mater.

 

As a co-founder of the independent opera company, Opera Galleria, he regularly sings with baritone James McOran-Campbell performing a selection of eclectic recital programmes which take in traditions of French mélodies, German lieder, English art songs and popular Italian canzoni.  This collaboration resulted in the making of a CD recording 'The Songs of the Phoenix', which was produced and recorded at Champs Hill. 

 

Much in demand as a recitalist, recent appearances for the Little Venice Festival include Songs of the Half Light by Lennox Berkeley, Chansons des Bois d’Amaranthe by Massenet and Schumann’s Liebeslieder.  He was also invited to participate in a fund-raising gala at the Linbury, Covent Garden.

 

Recent and future performances include:  Don Ramiro - La Cenerentola, Shahryar in the premiere of Danyal Dhondy's opera Shahrazad, Nemorino, Alfredo - La Traviata and Gustavo/Riccardo – A masked ball.  Also Don Ottavio, Lenski – Eugene Onegin.

 

As a director he has co-produced  Le Nozze di Figaro (in which he sang Don Basilio) and Cosi fan Tutte for Opera Vera. 

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Spring 2018 celebrated the launch of 'Islander', a further element to his talents as a folk singer/songwriter/guitarist and the release of his debut folk ballads album, 'Turning the Tide'.  As part of the celebrations there will be a tour in collaboration with James McOran-Campbell in 'Classi-Folk' for Opera Galleria.  In Autumn 2022, a brand new album of songs written by Islander is due to be released, followed by a UK tour.