Alexander Grove

Bio: Alexander trained as a chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral, London under John Scott and later at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester under Colin Iveson and Anthony Roden. He studied further at the Ferrandou Summer School in France with David Wilson Johnson, at the Georg Solti Accademia di Bel Canto in Italy with Kiri Te Kanawa, Frederica von Stade and Corradina Caporello and studied privately in Switzerland with Nicolai Gedda , in Italy with Susanna Rigacci and in Sweden with dramatic tenor Sten Sjöstedt. He has also undertaken many masterclasses from eminent artists including Anne Howells, Geoffrey Shovelton, Nigel Douglas, Martin Isepp, Rafael Rojas, Joseph Ward, Sir Thomas Allen, David Lloyd-Jones, Bruno Rigacci, Robin Stapleton, Francesca Patané and and received specialist coaching from artists such as Jean Mallandaine, Jim Holmes, Paul Griffiths, Chris Squires, Adele Leigh, John Cameron and Dale Fundling. Alexander has performed over 50 operatic / operetta roles, and is also in demand on the concert platform having performed the majority of the oratorio repertoire and given recitals and galas in festivals and tours covering the length and breadth of the UK. Internationally he has been heard throughout Europe, the United States, Japan and as far as the Manaus Opera House in Brazil. Amongst others, he has performed under the batons of Sir George Solti, Kent Negano, Simon Halsey, Sir Edward Downes, Sir David Wilcocks, Pier Giorgio Morandi, Edward Gardner, Noel Davis, Tobias Ringborg and Daniel Harding. He is now considered to be one of the most versatile tenors to emerge from the UK in recent years. Although primarily a lyrico-spinto tenor, Alexander has a broad operatic repertoire and experience from buffo roles to leading men. Over the course of his career he has received consistent critical acclaim from the broadsheets and magazines: the press hailed his professional debut in 2003 as Peter Quint in Britten’s Turn of the Screw as a “triumph”. Recent career highlights include his Swiss debut in Die Zauberflöte under Daniel Harding at the Lucerne Festival; his Finnish debut as Don Ramiro under the baton of Pier Giorgio Morandi with the National Finnish Opera in a revival of the 1988 Michael Hampe production of La Cenerentola; his Swedish debut receiving acclaim for his interpretation of Gabriele in Foroni’s revived bel canto opera Cristina Regina di Svezia for Vadstena Akademien under Tobias Ringborg; Don Ramiro, La Cenerentola for Malmö Opera under Brad Cohen; cover for Metropolitan tenor Stuart Neill as Don José in Bizet’s Carmen under Marcello Mottadelli at Opera På Skäret. His Count Danilo in Lehar’s The Merry Widow for Scottish Opera was described as “the Danilo of one’s dreams” (Opera Magazine). Other highlights include the roles of Le Nos, Pytor and Yarishkin in Le Nos (Shostakovich) at Royal Opera House 2, Trio, Trouble In Tahiti (Bernstein) and Charlie, Mahagonny Songspeil (Weill) all under the directorship of the Royal Opera’s associate director, John Fulljames for The Opera Group; Pierrot, Der Kaiser von Atlantis (Ullmann) under Edward Gardner and the Hallé Orchestra which he reprised for Upfront Opera; and Lupo with Hans Werner Henze as conductor on his children’s opera Pollicino. Other roles include Bajazet, Tamerlano; Hippolyte, Hippolyte et Aricie (Lully) and Telemachus Il Ritorno d’UIisse in Patria (Monteverdi) for Yorke Trust Opera; Count Almaviva, Il Barbiere di Siviglia for Göteborgs Operan; Pedrillo, Il Seraglio for Scottish Opera; Count von Zedlau, Wiener Blut and Eisenstein, Die Fledermaus for Clonter Opera; Chinese Man, The Fairy Queen for Armonico Consort; Dottore, The Jewel Box (Mozart) for Bampton Classical Opera; Fenton, Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor (Nicolai) for Cumbria Opera; Mercury, Orpheus in the Underworld (Offenbach) for British Youth Opera; Borsa Rigoletto (Verdi) for Mid Wales Opera; Remendado, Carmen (Bizet) for Opera På Skäret and Stowe Opera, Ralph Rackstraw HMS Pinafore (Sullivan) for Phoenix Opera; Colonel Fairfax Yeomen of the Guard (Sullivan) for West Cumberland Opera; Rapunzel’s Prince Into The Woods (Sondheim), Dr Caius Falstaff (Verdi), Chekalinsky Pique Dame (Tchaikovsky), Monsieur Taupe Capriccio (Strauss), Oronte Alcina (Handel), Egisto L’Egisto all for the RNCM. Due to his training, one of Alexander’s strengths is repertoire in the English language. Alexander has created 10 roles in world premiere British operas with leading British composers and librettists. In world premieres for Scottish Opera’s innovative Five:15: Gesualdo collaborating with crime novelist Ian Rankin and composer Craig Armstrong; Dream Angus (Stephen Deazley) with poet and novelist Alexander McCall Smith; Steve in Lyell Creswell’s and Ron Butlin’s Money Man; Ghost in Paul Mealor and Peter Stollery’s 74 Degrees North; Vitya, The Letter (Bernard Maclaverty + V Khodosh). For The Opera Group, Faceless Suit, Walking Not Driving (Tim Coker); Dean, Anything Money Can Buy (Laura Bowler); Wilson Out of the Ordinary (David Bruce); For Yorke Trust Opera: Lord Nelson, The Sailor’s Tale (Rupert Bawden) which was recorded on the NMC Record Label. Other roles in English include Ben The Telephone and La Théière L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, Ravel. In competition, Alexander is a multi-award winner, most recently becoming the male winner of the BBC Kiri Prize 2010, recorded for the BBC with the BBC Concert Orchestra on BBC Radio 2 and televised for BBC’s Last Night of the Proms. Other competition wins include the Anne Ziegler Competition and 2nd prize in the Frederic Cox Award. On the oratorio and concert platforms, recent highlights include the tenor cantata Rinaldo (Brahms) with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra in Sweden; appearing with soprano Louise Sjöstedt at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in Salzburg and at Berwaldhallen, Stockholm; and at the Hackney Empire, London in A Tribute to Mario Lanza recorded live for BBC Radio 2. Alexander’s performed repertoire covers the majority of the major works and his performances have been heard in many of the major venues and cathedrals in the UK. Just a few of the conductors and orchestras he has worked under include Daniel Harding and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (Lucerne Festival) Sir David Willcocks (Royal Festival Hall, London Symphony Orchestra - Fauré); Simon Halsey and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at the Birmingham Symphony Hall (Beethoven 9th Symphony, Messiah); Kent Negano (L’Enfant du Christ: Bridgewater Hall); Wyn Davies and the Northern Sinfonia (Viennese Operetta at The Sage, Gateshead); David Lloyd-Jones (Rossini Petite Messe Solenelle / Mozart Mass in Cmin); BBC Concert Orchestra (Roderick Dunk / Martyn Yates); Edward Gardner and the Hallé Orchestra (Der Kaiser von Atlantis - Imperial War Museum North); St John Smith’s Square (The Jewel Box, Mozart). Other conductors and venues include Leo Hussain, Mark Shanahan, Stephen Barlow (Verdi), Manchester Camerata (Messiah - Royal Hall, Harrogate) and Sir Edward Downes (Otello). World premieres include A Song for St Stephen (John Joubert) with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Simon Halsey. Other career highlights include performing a private performance for President Bush Snr at the White House, Washington; as a soloist with José Carreras under Sir Georg Solti at the Royal Festival Hall, London; the Queen Mother’s 90th Birthday at Horseguards Parade, London; Jim Henson’s Memorial Service; and as a soloist with Harry Secombe on “Highway” (ITV). Recording credits include the world premiere of Bawden’s The Sailor’s Tale on the NMC label in which he created the role of Lord Nelson; a world premiere for Independent Ballet Wales of Turner’s Bride of Flowers; the soundtrack of James Horner, Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas’s animated movie The Land Before Time at Abbey Road Studios, London and the inaugural UK Häagen-Daas advert also at Abbey Road Studios, London. Alexander is also featured on multiple Hyperion recordings as a chorister. He has been heard on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3, BBC World Service and SVT amongst others. Last update: 2016-01-26 15:18:01 +01:00