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Born: April 14, 1928 - Wyoming, Minnesota, USA
Died: April 8, 2008 - Berlin, Germany |
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The Amrican tenor, Loren [Lauren] Driscoll, was originally a cowboy, and sang then in night clubs, and as a entertainment singer. Finally he studied singing in Syracuse and Boston University.
Loren Driscoll made his debut as an opera singer in 1954 at the Opera of Boston as Dr. Cajus in Verdi’s Falstaff. He came to New York Broadway in 1957, and appeared in the Opera of Santa Fé, where he was engaged by Igor Stravinsky for a performance of his opera The Rake's Progress. He appeared in 1961 in the American premiere of Neues vom Tage by Paul Hindemith. In 1957-1959 he appeared with success at the City Centre Opera New York, at which he made his debut as Kaiser in Puccini’s opera Turandot. In 1962 he was hired by Deutsche Opernhaus Berlin, whose member he remained since then. There he could be particularly heard in roles for lyric tenor: as Ferrando in Così fan tutte, as Fenton in Falstaff by Verdi, as Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly, as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, as Flamand in Capriccio by R. Strauss and as Maler in Alban Berg’s Lulu. In April 1965 he sang at this opera house the title role in the premiere of H.W. Henze’s Der junge Lord, in September 1968 in the premiere of the opera Ulisse by Luigi Dallapiccola den Eumaos, in September 1979 in Der Untergang der Titanic by William Dieter Siebert.
In September 1965 Loren Driscoll participated in the Academy of the Arts in Berlin in the premiere of the opera Der Traum des Liu-Tung by the Korean composer Isang Yun. In August 1966 he had great success at the Salzburg Festival as Dionysos in the premiere of the opera Die Bassariden by H.W. Henze. He sang there also in 1969 in Oedipus Rex by I. Stravinsky and 1971-1972 as Andres in Wozzeck by Alban Berg. In Henze’s Die Bassariden he also made guest appearances at Milan’s La Scala in 1968, and also in 1968 at the Opera of Santa Fé in the premiere of this opera in North America. He had already sung there in 1967 in the American premiere of Boulevard Solitude by the same composer. In 1962 he particpated at the Festival of Glyndebourne as Ferrando in Così fan tutte, in 1971 he participated at the Schwetzingen Festival in the premiere of the opera Melusine by by A. Reimann. At the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels he made guest appearance (with the ensemble of Deutschen Oper Berlin) in 1973 in the premiere of N. Nabokov’s Love's Labour's Lost. In 1982 he made guest appearance in Rome with the ensemble of Deutschen Oper Berlin. Since 1966 he was a member of the Metropolitan Opera in New York three times. His debut at this house was as David in Meistersingern, and he performed there also the role of Alfred in Fledermaus. Further appearances were at the Operas of Hamburg and Cologne.
Loren Driscoll was considered as an outstanding interpreter of contemporary music works. He was also a great concert singer. In October 1985 the artist was hurt from a fire in his apartment in Berlin.
Recordings: DGG (including Der junge Lord by Hans Werner Henze, Lulu by Alban Berg), Wergo (Works of Luigi Nono), CBS (Oedipus Rex, Renard and Le Rossignol by I. Stravinsky). |
