'A Life of Song' - Operatic Tenor, Gregory Dempsey

The Australian tenor, Gregory Dempsey, was born in Melbourne in1931. He originally trained as a baritone but made his debut as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni in 1954 with National Opera of Victoria, also appearing as Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana and Pedro in d'Albert's Tiefland. In 1955 he won the £1,000 Lever Award (a commercial radio award) and in 1956 was a grand finalist in the Mobil Quest. When the Elizabethan Trust Opera was formed in 1956 he took part in its season of four operas. The following season, he appeared in their productions of Tosca, La bohème and The Tales of Hoffmann, and in the 1958 season sang principal roles in Carmen, The Barber of Seville and Fidelio. He became a permanent member of the chorus for the Channel 9 television singers. 1960 found him singing Monostatos in The Magic Flute, the First Jew in Salome, Goro in Madama Butterfly and Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi. During this season, Gregory Dempsey sang a matinee of Goro in Madama Butterfly, followed by Luigi in Il tabarro (replacing another tenor) followed by Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi. Three roles, quite different roles, in one day! In Perth, he sang in both opera in a double-bill as Mundit - an aborigine - in the 1962 premiere of the Australian opera, Dalgerie and followed with Beppe in Pagliacci after interval. Gregory Dempsey joined Sadler's Wells Opera in London in 1962 and this was his main UK base for the next fifteen years. His roles there and the Coliseum included Tom Rakewell, Peter Grimes, Jimmy Mahoney, Albert Gregor, Skuratov, Don José, Erik, David, Mime (Das Rhinegold and Siegfried) and the Shepherd in King Roger. He created the role of Boconnion in Richard Rodney Bennet's The Mines of Sulphur after which one critic wrote "an heroic-villainous part of formidable challenge." Dempsey appeared as Dionysus in the British premiere of Henze's The Bassarids and the title role in the first British staging of The Adventures of Mr Brouček. Gregory Dempsey worked frequently with Scottish Opera, in roles including Britten's Albert Herring, Quint and Lysander, as well as Florestan, Aeneas in The Trojans, David and Števa. Later, with Scottish Opera, he created the role of Bothwell in Musgrave's Mary, Queen of Scots in 1977. He made his Covent Garden debut in 1972 as Števa, returning as the Drum Major in Wozzeck. In the USA he appeared in San Francisco from 1966, as Albert Gregor and Tom Rakewell. He returned to Sydney to become a member of Opera Australia singing David in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Herman in Queen of Spades, Dimitri in Boris Godunov, Jimmy in The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Mime in both Das Rheingold and Siegfried, Trin in La fanciulla del West, Valzacchi in Der Rosenkavalier and Bob Boles in Peter Grimes. With Victoria State Opera he sang Nero in L'incoronazione di Poppea, Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria, The Magician in The Consul, Monostatos in The Magic Flute, Benoît and Alcindoro in La bohème, Incredible in Andrea Chenier, Prince Populescu in Countess Maritza, Ajax l in La belle Hélène, Jamie in My Fair Lady and Borsa in Rigoletto. With the Adelaide Festival, he was seen as Nero in L'incoronazione di Poppea, Mark in The Midsummer Marriage, Gregor in The Makropulos Case, Zinoviy Borisovich Izmailov in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and The Adventures of Mr. Brouček. His clear, perfectly tuned tenor voice was suited to a plethora of different repertoire and styles. From Monteverdi to the most difficult contemporary compositions, Gregory Dempsey made them relevant to every audience. His charm and ever-ready...