Andrew Staples
Tenor Andrew Staples has specialized in British works on his recordings, but in concert, he has appeared in a great variety of music. He has been a fixture of concert scenes in Britain in the 2010s and 2020s, also appearing often in continental Europe and the U.S.
Staples was born in London on August 19, 1979. Like so many other English singers, he had his first disciplined musical experiences in a cathedral choir, that of St. Paul's. After his voice broke, he sang with the Rodolfus Choir in the late '90s. He earned a music scholarship to Eton College (in North American terms, a prep school) and then, in 1998, earned another scholarship, this one to King's College, Cambridge. After receiving his degree in music there, Staples moved on to the Royal College of Music in London, where his teacher was Ryland Davies. He was the school's first recipient of its Peter Pears Scholarship.
Staples landed a role with the British Youth Opera as Ferrando in Mozart's Così fan tutte in the early 2000s and quickly found himself in demand for tenor roles and parts from Bach to Mozart and Beethoven. One of his first major appearances outside Britain came at the 2003 Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria, where he played Aret in Haydn's Philemon und Baucis under the baton of veteran conductor Trevor Pinnock. Staples' debut with the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden came as Jacquino in Beethoven's Fidelio. Staples made his recording debut on the Albion label in 2008 with a group of 20 early Ralph Vaughan Williams songs entitled Kissing Her Hair. That same year, he appeared on the album The Sky Shall Be Our Roof, a collection of songs from Vaughan Williams' operas.
Concert appearances have taken Staples as far afield as Japan, where he performed Mozart's Requiem with the Kanazawa Orchestra. In New York, he sang in the U.S. premiere of John Tavener's The Veil of the Temple. Strongly interested in British music of the 20th century, Staples has performed several Britten works, including the Serenade for tenor, horn, and strings, with Andrew Manze as conductor. In 2017, Staples was tapped to replace ailing tenor Jonas Kaufmann in the title role in Daniel Barenboim's recording of Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius. The following year, he appeared on a Chandos recording of Elgar's The Music Makers and The Spirit of England. In 2022, Staples returned on a Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra recording of Britten's Les Illuminations, conducted by Daniel Harding.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
9 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Colourise
London Choral Sinfonia, Michael Waldron, Roderick Williams, Andrew Staples, Elena Urioste
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Orchid Classics on 15 Jul 2022
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Stravinsky : Perséphone (Live)
Andrew Staples, Finnish National Opera Children's Chorus, Finnish National Opera Orchestra, Pauline Cheviller, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Finnish National Opera Chorus
Theatre Music - Released by PentaTone on 10 Aug 2018
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Elgar: The Music Makers & The Spirit of England
Sir Andrew Davis, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dame Sarah Connolly, Andrew Staples, BBC Symphony Chorus
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Chandos on 16 May 2000
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde
Andrew Staples, Marianne Beate Kielland, Musica Saeculorum, Philipp von Steinaecker
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Fra Bernardo on 1 Apr 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vaughan Williams: Kissing Her Hair
Sarah Fox, Andrew Staples, Roderick Williams, Iain Burnside
Classical - Released by Albion on 18 Feb 2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Henze: Neue Volkslieder und Hirtengesänge & Kammermusik 1958
Jürgen Ruck, Andrew Staples, Scharoun Ensemble Berlin, Daniel Harding
Chamber Music - Released by Tudor on 14 Jul 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Songs from Isolation
Andrew Staples, Alisdair Hogarth
Classical - Released by VOCES8 Records on 21 Oct 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
La Création
Philipp von Steinaecker, Ida Falk Winland, David Stout, Andrew Staples, Robert Davies, Musica Saeculorum
Choral Music (Choirs) - Released by Fra Bernardo on 4 Feb 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Within a Certain Time and Place
Andrew Staples, Alisdair Hogarth
Classical - Released by VOCES8 Records on 4 Mar 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo