Austin Gunn
Genre:
Tenor
Biography
Tenor Austin Gunn, made his professional operatic debut as Vorsinger Zaide with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras in the Edinburgh International Festival. He has since established himself as one of the UK’s leading tenors having returned to the EIF as 1st Tenor Soloist in Britten’s Curlew River and Zweite Lehrbube in Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, performing and covering roles at Scottish Opera and English National Opera (where he worked for seven consecutive seasons). He has also performed roles or covered at Longborough Festival Opera, Berwick Festival Opera, Tête à Tête Opera, Musica Na Fabrica Festival in Lisbon, and appeared as a guest artist with Zűrich Ballet.
His concert and oratorio repertoire is vast and includes new and rarely performed music by Ethel Smyth, Maxwell Davies, and Coleridge Taylor, grand storytelling works such as Dvorak’s The Spectre’s Bride, Haydn’s Creation, Handel’s Israel in Egypt, the Bach Passions and Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, and the lyricism of Rossini’s Stabat Mater and Verdi’s Requiem. Appearances include performances in Italy, Sweden, and France and throughout the UK in numerous cathedrals; The Glasshouse, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Kensington Palace, Alexandra Palace, Usher Hall, Leeds Town Hall, Barbican Centre, Kirche Oberstrass in Zűrich, Sinfonia Smith Square, Oxford Town Hall, St Paul’s Covent Garden, Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, Sheldonian Theatre, Westminster Abbey, Gothenburg Cathedral, and the Daft as a Brush Proms at Newcastle City Hall. A keen recitalist, Austin has given recital performances for the Lit & Phil Society, the Wellcome Trust, National Portrait Gallery, Paisley Voices Festival, Hull University, Newcastle Cathedral, and for the World Harmony Orchestra and National Student Opera Society.
Recording and film credits to date include Montague John Cage Dinner Party, Maxwell Davies of Solstice of Light, 1st Tenor Soloist Curlew River, 2nd Lehrbube Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg all for BBC Radio 3, Voice 1 in the movie version of A Soldier’s Return for Opera Sunderland, a recital of song for American television network PBS, and as the singing voice of a German soldier in the television series ‘Band of Brothers‘ directed by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks.
Austin is on the professorial staff at Trinity Laban Conservatoire where he teaches singing, coaches chamber music ensembles, leads performance tutorials and directs group performances and is an approved tutor at Durham University. He has given masterclasses at Hull University, York University and St John’s College, Durham University, in France at the Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris and for OperaLab in Brussels as well as for the National Student Opera Society, and Leeds Youth Opera.
| Oratorio and concert rep | |
| Composer | Work |
| Bach J. S, | B minor mass |
| Cantata 4 | |
| Cantata 131 | |
| Christmas cantata | |
| Christmas oratorio | |
| Magnificat | |
| St John Passion arias | |
| St Matthew Passion arias | |
| Wachet auf | |
| Beethoven | Mass in c |
| Symphony no 9 (choral symphony) | |
| Britten | Rejoice in the Lamb |
| St Nicholas | |
| Bruckner | Te deum |
| Caldara | Stabat mater |
| Cherubini | Requiem |
| Coleridge Taylor | Hiawatha wedding feast |
| Dvorak | Mass in D |
| Stabat Mater | |
| The Spectre’s bride (English & German) | |
| Elgar | Dream of gerontius |
| Goodall | Requiem eternal light |
| Gounod | St Cecilia |
| Handel | Coronation anthems |
| Dixit dominus | |
| Israel in Egypt | |
| Judas Maccabeus | |
| Let god arise | |
| Messiah (including Mozart edition) | |
| Ode to St Cecilia | |
| O praise the Lord with one content | |
| Samson | |
| Solomon | |
| Haydn | Creation |
| Harmoniemesse | |
| Nelson Mass | |
| Theresienmesse | |
| Wind band mass | |
| Johnston | A glimpse of the light |
| Jones, Alistair | A prodigal son |
| Maunder | Bethlehem |
| Maxwell Davis | Solstice of light |
| Mendelssohn | Elijah |
| Lauda cum sion | |
| St Paul | |
| Mozart | Coronation Mass |
| Mass in C (various versions) | |
| Mass in c minor | |
| Requiem (various versions) | |
| Sparrow Mass | |
| Solemn vespers | |
| Orff | Carmina burana |
| Puccini | Messa di Gloria |
| Rossini | Petite Messe Solenelle |
| Stabat Mater | |
| Saint-Saens | Christmas oratorio |
| Schubert | Mass in B flat |
| Mass in G | |
| Schutz | Christmas story |
| Musicalisch exequien | |
| Smyth Ethel | Mass in d |
| Stainer | Crucifixion |
| Tippett | A child of our time |
| Todd, Will | Fell Ponies |
| Verdi | Requiem |
| Vivaldi | Dixit Dominus (RV 807) version with tenor duet |
| Wood, Charles | Passion |
| Opera in Concert | |
| Bizet | Carmen |
| Sullivan | HMS Pinafore – Ralph Rackstraw |
| Iolanthe – Earl Tololler | |
| Mikado – Nanki Poo | |
| Pirates of Penzance – Frederic | |
Artist:
Austin Gunn
Label:
Ann Ferrier Artists
Genre:
Tenor