John Shirley-Quirk
Born: 28th August 1931, Liverpool, England
Died: 7th April 2014, Bath, England
Nationality: English
John Shirley-Quirk was born in Liverpool in 1931 and originally had no intention of becoming a professional musician: he studied sciences at Liverpool University and spent his early working life as a chemistry lecturer, taking private singing-lessons with Roy Henderson (who also taught Kathleen Ferrier) before his performing career began to take off in the early 1960s. His professional opera debut was at Glyndebourne (as The Doctor in Debussy’s Pélleas et Mélisande – he would go on to become a celebrated Golaud) in 1962, and shortly afterwards he was noticed by Benjamin Britten whilst singing Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Ipswich; it was the beginning of a fruitful association which saw Shirley-Quirk create the roles of the Ferryman in Curlew River, Spencer Coyle in Owen Wingrave, and the multiple baritone characters in Death in Venice (he was committed to new music throughout his career, with other notable premieres including Delius’s Requiem and Tippett’s The Ice-Break).
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John Shirley-Quirk (1931-2014)
9th Apr 2014
Much-loved singer who created major roles in operas by Britten and Tippett dies aged 82.
Recent Best Sellers: John Shirley-Quirk
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Tavener: Akhmatova Requiem
Phyllis Bryn-Julson (soprano) & John Shirley-Quirk (bass-baritone), Elise Ross (soprano) BBC Symphony Orchestra, The Nash Ensemble, Gennady Rozhdestvensky
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Gramophone Magazine, December 2014, Re-issue of the Month
CD: $17.75Download from $9.25 -
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Special offer. BBC Legends, Volume 3
Sena Jurinac (soloist), Christa Ludwig (soloist), Geoffrey Parsons (piano), John Mitchinson (soloist), Heather Harper (soloist), Peter Pears (tenor), Alfreda Hodgson (soloist), John Shirley-Quirk (soloist), Donald Mitchell, Sviatoslav Richter (piano), Marianne Häggander (soloist), Robert Tear (soloist), Gwynne Howell (soloist), Shura Cherkassky (piano), Rudolf Serkin (piano), Mstislav Rostropovich (cello), Henryk Szeryng (violin), José Luis Garcia, Emil Gilels (piano), London Symphony Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Northern Symphony Orchestra, New Philharmonia Orchestra, The Men’s Voices of the BBC Northern Singers, Aldeburgh Festival Chorus, English Chamber Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Karl Böhm, Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Malcolm Sargent, André Cluytens, Pierre Monteux, Wilhelm Kempff, Leopold Stokowski, Jascha Horenstein, Benjamin Britten, Klaus Tennstedt, Sir Georg Solti, Eugen Jochum, Evgeny Svetlanov, Gennady Rozhdestvensky
20 CDs: Original price $95.75 Reduced $71.81Download from $31.75 -
Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E flat major 'Symphony of a Thousand'
Heather Harper, Lucia Popp, Arleen Auger (sopranos), Yvonne Minton (mezzo), Helen Watts (contralto), Rene Kollo (tenor), John Shirley-Quirk (baritone), Martti Talvela (bass) Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Wiener Sängerknaben, Wiener Staatsopernchor, Sir Georg Solti
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Grammy Awards, 15th Awards (1972), Best Choral Performance
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Grammy Awards, 15th Awards (1972), Classical Album of the Year
Presto CD: $17.00 -
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New. English Song Anthology
Viola Tunnard, John Shirley-Quirk (baritone), Martin Isepp, Eric Parkin (piano)
CD: $19.25Download from $11.00
