ONE LP PORTRAITS: MUSICIANS: S - Z: WAYLAND ROGERS: Wayland Rogers: Singer, conductor and composer

Peter Grimes: Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden - Conductor Bernard Haitink{quote}Well, I brought Britten’s opera Peter Grimes. This will have to stand for all of the works of Britten that I am so much indebted to. He has been my hero ever since I first heard him in the ‘60s, I guess, when I was in undergraduate school. And his music just speaks to my soul, speaks to my mind as well, but first of all it speaks to my soul and he’s influenced me as a singer, as a composer, as a conductor in everything that I’ve done with my musical life. Thank goodness for Britten because there was hardly anybody else writing wonderful vocal music in the mid-century and even later. So, not only was he writing vocal music, but it was lyrical, it was singable. I loved it because he was such a wonderful setter of words and, as a composer and as a singer, I’m so interested in words and music coming together in the best way that they can and he was an absolute master of that.{quote}Wayland Rogers: Symphony Centre, Buntrock Hall, Chicago. 15th May, 2013Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes first performed London 1945Wayland Rogers
Wayland Rogers: Singer, conductor and composer, Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes

 

Peter Grimes:  

Chorus and Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden - Conductor Bernard Haitink 

 

"Well, I brought Britten’s opera Peter Grimes. This will have to stand for all of the works of Britten that I am so much indebted to. He has been my hero ever since I first heard him in the ‘60s, I guess, when I was in undergraduate school.  

And his music just speaks to my soul, speaks to my mind as well, but first of all it speaks to my soul and he’s influenced me as a singer, as a composer, as a conductor in everything that I’ve done with my musical life.  

Thank goodness for Britten because there was hardly anybody else writing wonderful vocal music in the mid-century and even later.  

So, not only was he writing vocal music, but it was lyrical, it was singable.  

I loved it because he was such a wonderful setter of words and, as a composer and as a singer, I’m so interested in words and music coming together in the best way that they can and he was an absolute master of that." 

 

Wayland Rogers: Symphony Centre, Buntrock Hall, Chicago. 15th May, 2013 

 

Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes first performed London 1945 

Wayland Rogers