DONALD SMITH

Donald Sydney Smith was born in Bundaberg, Queensland, on 27 July 1920. Smith began his career singing on the local radio station 4BU Bundaberg, singing mainly country and western songs. His first singing teacher in Bundaberg was a lady named Kate Gratehead. It was she who helped him refine his musical ability and vocal technique for his natural tenor voice. After the birth of their third child, Smith and his wife Joy left Bundaberg and relocated firstly to Toowoomba and later to Brisbane. Here Smith became acquainted with the well known band leader J.J. Kelly. Under Kelly's direction, and also working with the conductor George English, he performed some of the tenor roles in his first forays into grand opera. This included the lead tenor role of Sir Walter Raleigh, in Sir Edward German's Merrie England in Brisbane in 1944. He also performed the lead tenor role of Thaddeus in Michael William Balfe's The Bohemian Girl and the role of Don Caesar de Brazen in William Vincent Wallace's opera Maritana.

In 1948, Smith joined the Brisbane Opera Society, and sang roles such as Don José (Carmen), the title role in Faust, the Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto), Roméo (Roméo et Juliette) and Canio (Pagliacci). Canio was a role for which Donald Smith became renowned throughout his long career. In 1952 he began two years of study at London's National School of Opera, after winning the Mobil Quest singing competition in Australia. After a brief period overseas in Italy and England, he returned to Australia, and sang with an Italian touring company in 1955, alongside singers such as Gabriella Tucci and Ken Neate. In 1958 he appeared with the then Elizabeth Trust Opera Company, singing Count Almaviva (The Barber of Seville). In 1960 he sang the role of Pinkerton for the first time opposite Dame Joan Hammond's Madama Butterfly, performing in Brisbane at Her Majesty's Theatre.

He made his Sadler's Wells debut in England in 1962, where he performed many Verdi operas including Attila, Rigoletto and Un ballo in maschera. He also performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where he made his debut as Calaf in Puccini's Turandot opposite the English soprano Amy Shuard. He established his career in the UK for six years, before returning to Australia in 1967 to sing with the Australian Opera in major roles including Canio, Manrico (Il trovatore), Bob Boles (Peter Grimes), the Duke of Mantua (Rigoletto), Dick Johnson (The Girl of the Golden West), Cavaradossi (Tosca), Radames (Aida), and King Gustavus (Un ballo in maschera). He also sang the Germanic operatic repertoire, including Florestan in Fidelio and Eric in The Flying Dutchman.

During the 1970s, Smith and his son Robin Donald, also a tenor, made operatic history together, alternating singing the role of Eric in The Flying Dutchman, in performance with the Australian Opera Company (now Opera Australia). Robin also sang the role of The Steersman in performances on other occasions, when Donald was singing the role of Eric. These are the only known performances of any father and son tenors ever singing these roles together in this opera. In 1968, the first opera telecast in Australia, Tosca, featured Marie Collier in the title role, Smith as Cavaradossi, and Tito Gobbi as Scarpia.

On 21 January 1973 Smith was the first voice to sing in the Sydney Opera House, when he appeared in the first test concert in the Opera Theatre, along with Elizabeth Fretwell and members of the ABC National Training Orchestra, conducted by Robert Miller. While Italian opera (and particularly where sung in English) was his natural metier, he also performed many concerts and song recitals. Together with his son Robin Donald, they presented in 1974 a series of "Smith & Son" concerts throughout Australia singing in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

Smith's last performance for the Australian Opera was in Verdi's I masnadieri in 1980 with Joan Sutherland. While Smith and Sutherland did perform together in a number of concerts at the Sydney Opera House, I masnadieri was the only occasion when these two Australian icons performed a complete staged opera together. His health began to fail and in 1981 he retired from the professional operatic stage. He later became a singing teacher in Brisbane at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music. Smith died in the Pleasantville Nursing Home in Brisbane on 1 December 1998.

EPs

'Donald Smith Australian Opera Star Sings In The Cathedral Cave. Jenolan Caves' 1975

ALBUMS

'Serenades' 1975 HMV
'Donald Smith Sings' 1976 HMV
' Donald Smith Sings For You' 1977 World Record Club

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Smith_(tenor)