Gareth Brynmor John (29 September)
Born into a family of singers (his father and two brothers sang in the choir of Kingston Parish Church), the baritone Gareth Brynmor John was a pupil at Tiffin School where he sang in the Boys’ Choir which often provided the children’s chorus for the Royal Opera House. A choral scholarship to St John’s College Cambridge was followed by four years at the Royal Academy of Music where weekly coaching with Ian Ledingham (‘who totally changed how I engaged with text in several languages’) culminated in winning the 2017 Bach Prize.
He is a familiar face at Lieder recitals both abroad and in the UK, including those at the Wigmore Hall, the Barber Institute and King’s Place, as well as Lieder Festivals at the Oxford, Buxton, St Endellion, Ludlow and Ryedale. Those who were in Hereford last July at the Three Choirs Festival will remember him as the commanding baritone soloist in Handel’s Alexander’s Feast.
Gareth’s three children are his principal pastimes, but any time left is spent continuing a DIY kitchen project, started during lockdown. He is also on the governing body of his children’s primary school, interested in how music and the arts can be a force for improvement in education. Any time left over after all this may be a long holiday or two in France, preferably next to water for swimming and paddle boarding.
He will be talking to Putney Music’s vice-president Ian Partridge, who as a jury member of the 2013 Kathleen Ferrier Award remembers him with admiration as winner of that year’s contest.
