Davies, Ben(jamin) Grey

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Davies, Ben(jamin) Grey

Davies, Ben(jamin) Grey , Welsh tenor; b. Pontardawe, near Swansea, South Wales, Jan. 6, 1858; d. Bath, England, March 28, 1943. After winning first prize for solo singing at the Swansea Eisteddfod in 1877, he studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London (1878–80) under Randegger Sr., and Fiori, winning the bronze, silver, and gold medals for best declamatory English singing. His debut was in Birmingham, Oct. 11, 1881, in The Bohemian Girl. He created the title role in Sullivan’s Ivanhoe (London, Jan. 31, 1891). In 1892 he made his debut at London’s Covent Garden as Faust. He made his first appearance in the U.S. at the Chicago World’s Fair in 1893, then was mainly active as a concert and oratorio singer. He sang regularly at the Handel Festivals until 1926.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire

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