Hall, Sir Peter (Reginald Frederick)
Hall, Sir Peter (Reginald Frederick)
Hall, Sir Peter (Reginald Frederick), noted English theater and opera producer; b. Bury St. Edmunds, Nov. 22, 1930. He was educated at St. Catharine’s Coll., Cambridge. In 1955-56 he was director of the Arts Theatre, London. He was managing director of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre from 1960 to 1968; from 1973 to 1988 he was director of the National Theatre; worked also at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In 1970 he began a long and fruitful association as an opera producer at Glyndebourne, serving as its artistic director from 1984 to 1990. He was head of his own Peter Hall Production Co. (from 1988). For several years he was married to Maria Ewing. He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1963 and was knighted in 1977. He is known for his versatility, having produced operas by Cavalli, Mozart, Wagner, Tchaikovsky, Schoenberg, and Tippett. In 1983 he produced the new Ring cycle at Bayreuth for the 100th anniversary of Wagner’s death, with Solti conducting.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire