David Rendall

Rendall was born in London on 11 October 1948. sorting records for Desert Island Discs. A producer for the show heard him singing "Questa o quella" from Rigoletto while working, and suggested he study professionally. Rendall studied voice at the Royal Academy of Music between 1970 and 1973 with Olive Groos and Alexander Young, and at the Mozarteum in Salzburg from 1973. He continued to perform there until 1990, performing roles such as Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Almaviva in Rossini's The Barber of Seville, Des Grieux in Massenet's Manon, Matteo in Strauss's Arabella, Giacomo in Rossini's La donna del lago, the Young sailor in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, He first appeared at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City in 1980 as Ernesto in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, he returned as Don Ottavio, subsequently performing as Belmonte, the title role of Mozart's La clemenza di Tito, as Ferrando in 1983, as Lensky in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin, Alfred in Die Fledermaus by Johann Strauss, and the title role of Mozart's Idomeneo in 1986. He appeared there in a total of 134 performances, the last being in April 1988 as Ferrando. He performed at the Portland Opera as Canio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci in 1997. In concert, Rendall performed the tenor solo of Bruckner's Te Deum conducted by Herbert von Karajan during a performance at the Musikverein hall with the Vienna Philharmonic in 1978. He first appeared at La Scala in Milan in ''The Rake's Progress'' in 1979. In 1983 he sang as Faust in Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust in Lyon. In 1987 he sang at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris as Tamino. He appeared in the title role of Offenbach's ''Les contes d'Hoffmann'' at the Teatro Carlo Felice in Genoa in 1998. the switchblade-style knife that the Milwaukee opera company used failed to collapse, and the baritone received a cut into his abdomen. Julian recovered and police cleared Rendall of any wrongdoing. Later career, injury and comeback In July 2002, he performed at La Scala as Otello, He appeared as Otello also at the Semperoper in Dresden in 2002. In the months following his fall he underwent a hip replacement, followed by a knee joint replacement and extensive shoulder surgery. as Dushyanta in a revival of Alfano's Sakùntala at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma on 21 April 2006, as Tristan in Tristan und Isolde at the same venue in November 2006, and as Riccardo in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera, again at the National Opera of Chile in June 2008. An important comeback concert also took place in London in June 2013, singing alongside mezzo-soprano Diana Montague, soprano Teodora Gheorghiu and pianist David Owen Norris. In 2015 he took up a teaching position at the Royal Academy of Music, and started giving private lessons in his Hampshire home. He appeared in the summer of 2016 as Triquet in Eugene Onegin at the Dorset Opera Festival. He was noted for "thrilling bravura delivery, his consistent legato line and, in various languages, his excellent diction. After his accident "he maintained a determinedly bouyant attitude... and keeping a colourful blog" which featured anecdotes from his stage career. ==Personal life and death==

Rendall was married twice. In 1974, he married his first wife, Kathryn George The couple subsequently divorced. They lived in Brockenhurst, Hampshire. on 21 July 2025, aged 76, following a long illness. == Recordings ==

Rendall was the tenor in a recording of Beethoven's Missa solemnis for Deutsche Harmonia Mundi in 1977. He took part in the 1978 recording of Così fan tutte with the Strasbourg Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Alain Lombard. That same year he performed the role of Lucarnio in Handel's Ariodante. He recorded the Requiem by Berlioz, conducted by Michael Gielen in 1979; Donizetti's Maria Stuarda with Charles Mackerras and the English National Opera in 1982; In 1983 he participated in the DVD recording of The Metropolitan Opera Centennial Gala, conducted by James Levine, for Deutsche Grammophon. Randall took a role in a recording of Puccini's La rondine with Lorin Maazel and the London Symphony Orchestra in 1985. Also in 1985, he participated in a recording of Mozart's Requiem for EMI, conducted by Daniel Barenboim. He sang Enoch Snow in an MCA recording of Carousel in 1988, and in 1990, Rendall participated in a recording by Jay Productions of Romberg's The Student Prince, alongside his wife. That same year he also was part of a Chandos recording of Elgar's The Apostles, conducted by Richard Hickox. In his latter years, Rendall sang François in a recording of Korngold's Die Kathrin with Martyn Brabbins conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra in 1998. ==References==