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Alan Oke

Introduction

Alan Oke studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music & Drama in Glasgow and with Hans Hotter in Munich.

Following a successful career as a baritone he made his debut as a tenor in 1992 singing Brighella (Ariadne auf Naxos) for Garsington Opera. Since then he has sung a wide variety of roles including Rodolfo (La Boheme), Alfredo (La Traviata), Pinkerton (Madam Butterfly), Steva (Jenufa), Boris (Katya Kabanova), Boles (Peter Grimes), Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi), Gonsalves (L'heure Espangnole), Armoured Man (Magic Flute), M.K. Gandhi (Satyagraha) and The Four Servants (Les Contes d'Hoffmann). Companies include Glyndebourne Festival Opera; Scottish Opera; Opera North; The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; English National Opera; Canadian Opera Company  and The Metropolitan Opera as well as appearances at the Edinburgh, Aldeburgh, Brighton, Bregenz and Ravenna Festivals and the BBC Proms.

Recent and future engagements include Chairman Mao Nixon in China for the BBC Proms and the Berlin Festival; Caliban The Tempest for the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Hiereus/the Translator The Minotaur for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Prince/Manservant/Marquis Lulu and Schoolteacher The Cunning Little Vixen for Welsh National Opera and his first Peter Grimes for the Aldeburgh Festival as part of their Britten centenary celebrations.

 

This is for information only and should not be reproduced. Please contact Kate Baylis for a full biography.

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Gallery

  • The Metropolitan Opera, The Tempest (Caliban) 2012

  • Death in Venice (Aschenbach)

  • Royal Opera House, Anna Nicole (Old Man Marshall) 2011

News & Features

Links

Please click here to read an interview with Alan Oke by Andrew Clark of the Financial Times, ahead of Alan's appearance as Peter Grimes in Aldeburgh.
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Video


  • TURNAGE: Anna Nicole (trailer)

Schedule

Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Aldeburgh

Programme

BRITTEN: Peter Grimes

Alan Oke  Peter Grimes
Giselle Allen  Ellen Orford
David Kempster Captain Balstrode
Gaynor Keeble  Auntie
Lexi Hutton First Niece
Charmian Bedford Second Niece
Robert Murray  Bob Boles
Henry Waddington  Swallow
Catherine Wyn-Rogers  Mrs Sedley
Christopher Gillett   Rev Horace Adams
Charles Rice Ned Keene
Stephen Richardson  Hobson

Steuart Bedford conductor
James Holmes head of music & assistant conductor
Anthony Kraus chorus master

The Chorus of Opera North with the Chorus of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Britten–Pears Orchestra

Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Aldeburgh

Programme

BRITTEN: Peter Grimes

Alan Oke  Peter Grimes
Giselle Allen  Ellen Orford
David Kempster Captain Balstrode
Gaynor Keeble  Auntie
Lexi Hutton First Niece
Charmian Bedford Second Niece
Robert Murray  Bob Boles
Henry Waddington  Swallow
Catherine Wyn-Rogers  Mrs Sedley
Christopher Gillett   Rev Horace Adams
Charles Rice Ned Keene
Stephen Richardson  Hobson

Steuart Bedford conductor
James Holmes head of music & assistant conductor
Anthony Kraus chorus master

The Chorus of Opera North with the Chorus of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Britten–Pears Orchestra

Aldeburgh Beach, Aldeburgh

Programme

BRITTEN: Peter Grimes

Alan Oke  Peter Grimes
Giselle Allen  Ellen Orford
David Kempster Captain Balstrode
Gaynor Keeble  Auntie
Lexi Hutton First Niece
Charmian Bedford Second Niece
Robert Murray  Bob Boles
Henry Waddington  Swallow
Catherine Wyn-Rogers  Mrs Sedley
Christopher Gillett   Rev Horace Adams
Charles Rice Ned Keene
Stephen Richardson  Hobson

Steuart Bedford conductor
James Holmes head of music & assistant conductor
Anthony Kraus chorus master

The Chorus of Opera North with the Chorus of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Britten–Pears Orchestra

Aldeburgh Beach, Aldeburgh

Programme

BRITTEN: Peter Grimes

Alan Oke  Peter Grimes
Giselle Allen  Ellen Orford
David Kempster Captain Balstrode
Gaynor Keeble  Auntie
Lexi Hutton First Niece
Charmian Bedford Second Niece
Robert Murray  Bob Boles
Henry Waddington  Swallow
Catherine Wyn-Rogers  Mrs Sedley
Christopher Gillett   Rev Horace Adams
Charles Rice Ned Keene
Stephen Richardson  Hobson

Steuart Bedford conductor
James Holmes head of music & assistant conductor
Anthony Kraus chorus master

The Chorus of Opera North with the Chorus of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Britten–Pears Orchestra

Aldeburgh Beach, Aldeburgh

Programme

BRITTEN: Peter Grimes

Alan Oke  Peter Grimes
Giselle Allen  Ellen Orford
David Kempster Captain Balstrode
Gaynor Keeble  Auntie
Lexi Hutton First Niece
Charmian Bedford Second Niece
Robert Murray  Bob Boles
Henry Waddington  Swallow
Catherine Wyn-Rogers  Mrs Sedley
Christopher Gillett   Rev Horace Adams
Charles Rice Ned Keene
Stephen Richardson  Hobson

Steuart Bedford conductor
James Holmes head of music & assistant conductor
Anthony Kraus chorus master

The Chorus of Opera North with the Chorus of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
Britten–Pears Orchestra

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Press

JANACEK

The Cunning Little Vixen

Welsh National Opera
 Alan Oke’s School­master...moving in their human frailty... Hugh Canning, The Sunday Times, 3rd March 2013

BERG

Lulu

Welsh National Opera
Two singers rise above the mess...Alan Oke’s mesmerising Prince/Manservant. Andrew Clark, Financial Times, 11th February 2013
In a work all about symmetries, the multiple roles are brilliantly carried off by a cast including...Alan Oke... John Allison, The Telegraph,20th February 2013
...with luxury support from...Alan Oke... Fiona Maddocks, The Observer, 17th February 2013

ADES

The Tempest

The Metropolitan Opera
And among other standouts the tenor Alan Oke was wonderful as the shaggy-haired, monsterlike, spiteful Caliban, who was to have ruled the island but is kept in servitude by the magic of Prospero.
Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times, 24th October 2012
Alan Oke conveyed Caliban’s pathos and madness in delicate balance. 
Martin Bernheimer, Financial Times, 24th October 2012
...Caliban, in particular, became a central and even sympathetic figure thanks to Alan Oke...
Anne Midgette, The Washington Post, 24th October 2012
...and British tenor Alan Oke lends gravity as the enslaved Caliban.
Joe Dziemianowicz, New York Daily News, 24th October 2012
...Alan Oke sings Caliban with naturalness and sincerity...
Zachary Woolfe, New York Observer, 24th October 2012
Alan Oke’s pliant, melting tenor makes his Caliban sympathetic.
Ronni Reich, New Jersey Star Ledger, 25th October 2012
For the British singers, the production is a triumphant showcase: Alan Oke's earthy Caliban...
Tom Service, The Guardian, 26th October 2012
The tenor Alan Oke, dressed like a hairy Goth who fell in a mud puddle, is menacing as Caliban.
Wilborn Hampton, The Huffington Post, 29th October 2012

MOZART

Le nozze di Figaro

Glyndebourne Festival Opera
Vintage cameos from Ann Murray, Andrew Shore and Alan Oke crown a well-mannered show that…captures some of its invigorating spirit.
Andrew Clark, Financial Times, 29th June 2012
The best performances come from...louche Basilio (Alan Oke), three feisty characters in search of a real drama to get their teeth into.
Andrew Clements, The Guardian, 28th June 2012
…entertaining singing came from the comprimario roles… Alan Oke (in particularly mellifluous vein) as Don Basilio. 
Mike Reynolds, Musical Criticism, 1st July 2012
Alan Oke's perfectly pitched Don Basilio. 
Igor Toronyi-Lalic, The Arts Desk, 30th June 2012

TIPPETT

King Priam

Brighton Festival
...the magnificent Alan Oke...
Anna Picard, The Independent, 3rd June 2012
The playing was superb and the singing strength impressive: ...Alan Oke's Achilles perfectly high-strung...
Paul Driver, The Sunday Times, 3rd June 2012
 But there was impassioned singing from Brindley Sherratt (Priam), Benjamin Hulett (Hermes)… and Alan Oke (Achilles) among others, and I came away sobered, shaken and elated by a masterpiece of aesthetic rigour and integrity.
Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph, 30 May 2012
But Brindley Sherratt and Alan Oke were tremendous as Priam and Achilles, opponents brought together by the common experience of losing the person they love most in a war that neither can now stop.
Tim Ashley, The Guardian, 29 May 2012