David Rendall, Tenor Who Suffered 2 Operatic Mishaps, Dies at 76

New York Times

2 days ago

David Rendall, a British tenor who gained starring roles in Mozart, Verdi and Donizetti on both sides of the Atlantic thanks to a light, clear voice, but who found life uncomfortably imitating art in a pair of career-altering stage mishaps, died on July 21 at his home in New Forest, England. He was 76.
His death was announced on Facebook and Instagram by Glyndebourne, the British opera company Mr. Rendall joined in 1974. His son Huw Montague Rendall, an acclaimed baritone, said in an interview that he had died after a 'long complicated illness.'
Mr. Rendall was a regular at the Metropolitan Opera throughout the 1980s, singing in 134 performances as Ernesto in 'Don Pasquale,' Tamino in 'The Magic Flute,' Alfredo in 'La Traviata,' Don Ottavio in 'Don Giovanni' and in other works, and earning mixed reviews. He performed some of the same roles at the Royal Opera House in London in that decade, though British critics were generally more enthusiastic. He also sang at La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera and Opéra Bastille in Paris, among other venues.
But it was in two stage accidents, the second of which, in 2005, curtailed his singing career, that Mr. Rendall gained notoriety and unwittingly illustrated the perils of operatic life.
In April 2005, Mr. Rendall was singing Radamès in Verdi's 'Aida' at the Royal Danish Theater in Copenhagen when part of the stage collapsed, destroying the set. He was 'knocked down at least 15 feet and tried to crawl to safety to avoid being crushed,' he later told The Telegraph of London. 'I thought I was going to die,' a fate that awaits Radamès in the opera but is not normally faced by tenors singing the role.
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