Richard Suart (born 5 September 1951) is an English opera singer and actor, who has specialised in the comic roles of Gilbert and Sullivan operas and in operetta, as well as in avant-garde modern operas. He is probably best known for his numerous portrayals of Ko-Ko in The Mikado.
Suart has often performed with English National Opera, as well as other opera companies throughout the UK, Europe and North America. He has also recorded extensively and performed on the concert platform.
Biography Suart was born in Blackpool, Lancashire. He was educated at Sedbergh School (1965–69) and later studied at St John's College, Cambridge (1971–74) and the Royal Academy of Music (1974–77).
He is chiefly known as a stage performer, but his concert work has included baritone leads in Benjamin Britten's Saint Nicolas,The Musical Times, Vol. 131, No. 1773 (November 1990) and Monteverdi's Vespers,The Guardian, 12 January 1980, p. 21 and a song recital of works by Ravel, Ibert and Mussorgsky at the Wigmore Hall in 1979The Observer, 31 December 1978, p. 28, as well as some concert performances of his operatic roles.
He appeared at his alma mater, the Royal Academy of Music, in a 1977 production of Menotti's The Consul, supervised by the composer, as John Sorel, alongside Lesley Garrett as the Secretary, conducted by Marcus Dods.Forbes, Elizabeth. "The Consul, Royal Academy of Music, March 18", Opera, May 1977, Vol. 28, No. 5, p. 507 In 2004 Suart was elected a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Music.
Suart is married to director and librettist Emma Jenkins.
Opera Suart's early operatic roles were with the English Music Theatre Company and the Opera Factory, where he sang the Doctor in Birtwistle's Punch and Judy, and Satan, the Puppetmaster and Gaffer Pietro in Osborne's Hell's Angels.Cast biographies - Richard Suart, in the programme booklet for Hell's Angels and La Calisto at the Royal Court Theatre, 1985. He appeared as Horimiya in the world premiere of Minoru Miki's An Actor's Revenge (based on the film of that name) by the English Music Theatre at the Old Vic in London in 1979.Rosenthal, Harold. "An Actor's Revenge, English Music Theatre at the Old Vic, London". Opera, December 1979, Vol. 30, No.12, p. 1199. The Guardian found his Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte in 1980 "memorably characterised". When he sang Leone in Handel's Tamerlano at the Bloomsbury Theatre with Orpheus Opera in 1982, he was judged "one of the evening’s star turns, and his sardonic asides leavened proceedings wonderfully".Letter to the Editor from Christopher Webber. Opera, January 2023, Vol. 74, No.1, p. 22 That year he also appeared in La vera costanza at St John's, Smith Square, in the first UK performance of the critical edition by Haydn scholar H. C. Robbins Landon.Fairman, Richard. "In Concert – La vera costanza", Opera, Vol. 32, No.1, January 1981, p.92. Since then, Suart has divided his stage appearances among operas in the regular repertoire, avant-garde modern operas, and the "patter" roles in Gilbert and Sullivan operas.
His mainstream roles have included, for English National Opera (ENO), small roles in Orfeo, War and Peace, Tosca and Don Carlos in the early 1980s, and Baron Zeta in The Merry Widow (most recently in 2008), Colonel Frank in Die Fledermaus and Benoit and Alcindoro in La bohème; and for Diva Opera, where he directed as well as performing in Britain‚ the Channel Islands‚ Switzerland and France, he sang Dr. Bartolo in The Barber of Seville, the title role in Gianni Schicchi, Dulcamara in The Elixir of Love, and Frank. At the Royal Albert Hall, he sang the Sacristan in Tosca; at Garsington he played Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro (2000) and Caspar in Genoveva, among others; for Reisopera he sang Swallow in Peter Grimes. For Opera North he played Schaunard in La bohème,The Musical Times, Vol. 129, No. 1750 (December 1988), pp. 679–83 Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, the French Ambassador in Of Thee I Sing (1998 and 2008), Barabashkin in Paradise Moscow (2009), and General Adam Snookfield in Let 'Em Eat Cake (2009).Hall, George. "Let ‘em Eat Cake", The Stage, 4 February 2009 For Holland Park Opera he played two roles in Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chénier in 2005Holland Park Theatre programme, 26 July 2005 and the Mayor in Jenůfa in 2007.Milnes, Rodney. Jenůfa – Opera Holland Park, June 13. Opera, August 2007, Vol. 58, No.8, p. 981
In Mussorgsky's rarely staged opera The Marriage (1981), The Guardian noted, "It helped enormously that the central role of Podkolyosin was taken by a singer as skilled in comedy as Richard Suart, making him enough of a Wooster-like silly ass to be consistently funny without losing the essential Russian flavour."Greenfield, Edward, "Mussorgsky's Marriage", The Guardian, 14 December 1981, p. 9 Suart's Viceroy in La Périchole (1981) was judged "a drolly Dickensian impersonation" by The Times.Mann, William. "La Périchole, Sadler's Wells", The Times, 24 March 1981, p. 9 Rare excursions into early opera have been in Handel's Tamerlano in 1982The Times, 16 April 1982, p. 9 and Agrippina in 2007.ENO programme, 5 February 2007
Suart played several roles in the 2009 revival of Salad Days by Tête à Tête at the Riverside Studios, Hammersmith."Salad Days (2009)", Tête à Tête archive productions, accessed 24 March 2024. In June 2010 he sang Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola at the Iford Festival Opera at Iford Manor,Evans, Rian. "La Cenerentola at the Iford Festival – review", Opera, September 2010, Vol. 61, No.9, pp. 1140–1141. with and Don Jerome in the Linley family's opera The Duenna by English Touring Opera at the Linbury Studio Theatre, Covent Garden that October.Porter, Andrew. "Report from Covent Garden", Opera, December 2010, Vol. 61, No.12, p. 1546. Another Rossini role, Bartolo in The Barber of Seville came with Charles Court Opera at Iford in 2017, where he "used decades of G&S experience to supply a comedic tour de force".Cross, Jonathan. "Report from Iford Festival", Opera, Vol. 68, No.9, September 2017, pp. 1196–1197. He appeared at the 78th Maggio Musicale in 2015 as Pangloss in Candide at the Opera di Firenze.Sansone, Matteo. "Italy: Florence – review", Opera, September 2015, Vol. 66, No.9, p. 1150. At the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild for the 20th Les Azuriales festival he joined the finalists of the 15th International Singing Competition in Gianni Schicchi "as a comically spiv-like Schicchi".Proudfoot, Michael. "Report from France – St-Jean-Cap-Ferrat", Opera, December 2016, p. 1544.
For the 2018 revival of Jonathan Miller's production of La Boheme for ENO at the London Coliseum a reviewer wrote "Praise is also due to a singer who was not on stage: Richard Suart, who acted as diction coach".Shapiro, Yehuda. "La Bohème, English National Opera at the London Coliseum", Opera, February 2019, Vol.70, No. 2, p. 204.
In 2023, he appeared as Spinelloccio in Gianni Schicchi for Scottish Opera in Glasgow, and as Old Adam in Ruddigore at Opera Holland Park.
Modern works For Opera North, Suart originated the role of Stan Stock in Benedict Mason's Playing Away, and for Music Theatre Wales, he created the role of King Arthur in Lynne Plowman's Gwyneth and the Green Knight. With Netherlands Opera, in Amsterdam and Munich, he sang in the world premieres of Param Vir's Snatched by the Gods and Broken Strings. The Guardian called his contribution to the latter "a towering piece of vocal acting".Ashley, Tim. The Guardian, 16 July 1996, p. A9 Suart sang in the UK premieres of Shostakovich's Moscow, Cheryomushki for Pimlico Opera (1995), and in the premieres of Mason's Chaplinoperas in New York (2005), Germany, Portugal, Holland and Austria. He has sung Peter Maxwell Davies's Eight Songs for a Mad King in Gelsenkirchen's Musiktheater im Revier‚ Milan‚ Helsinki‚ Strasbourg‚ Stavanger and Paris. In 1987, The Musical Times described his performance in that work as "compelling from start to finish".The Musical Times, Vol. 128, No. 1736 (October 1987), p. 577 In 2010, Suart received warm notices for his performance as Pangloss in Candide at the Hollywood Bowl.Swed, Mark. "Music review: Candide at the Hollywood Bowl". Los Angeles Times, 3 September 2010
In 1999, Suart made his Salzburg Festival debut in Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre.Richard Suart profile at Hyperion Records' website, June 2000 Other modern works in which Suart has appeared include Tippett's King Priam,The Musical Times, Vol. 125, No. 1702 (December 1984), pp. 715–18 Betty Roe's Gaslight,The Musical Times, Vol. 124, No. 1681 (March 1983), pp. 179–83 Harrison Birtwistle's Yan Tan Tethera and the premiere of The Mask of OrpheusENO programme, 21 May 1986 and Aribert Reimann's The Ghost Sonata, in which, The Musical Times wrote, "Richard Suart's Hummel was a remarkable tour de force",The Musical Times, Vol. 130, No. 1755 (May 1989), pp. 290–300 Alun Hoddinott's What the Old Man Does is Always RightThe Guardian, 8 July 1989, p. 19 and Philip Glass's Fall of the House of Usher, in which Suart was praised for his "fine central performance".The Guardian, 11 August 1989, p. 26 In 2006, Suart created the role of Mr Walter in Michel van der Aa's After Life at the Holland Festival, and in 2009–2010, he sang the role in Europe and at the UK premiere at Barbican Hall.Notice of After Life at Barbican Hall's website, accessed 2 May 2009After Life at the Michel van der Aa website As the psychopath in Stewart Copeland's The Tell-Tale Heart based on Poe, "Suart was perfectly cast as the disturbed but charming Edgar".Shirley, Hugo. "OperaShots: The Tell-Tale Heart and The Doctor’s Tale – review", Opera, June 2011, Vol. 62 No. 6, p. 722.
Gilbert and Sullivan Suart's association with the Savoy operas began early. At the Royal Academy of Music he took part in the opening performance at the Academy's new opera theatre in 1977, playing the Learned Judge in Trial by Jury.Walsh, Stephen. The Observer, 30 October 1977, p. 30 Later in his career he played in the first performance of a Gilbert and Sullivan opera at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Jack Point in The Yeomen of the Guard when Welsh National Opera included the work in their London season there in 1995.The Guardian, 22 April 1995, p. B9 He played several roles in the Savoy operas with the revived D'Oyly Carte Opera Company beginning in 1988, and also in their Orpheus in the Underworld (1994) and La Vie parisienne (1995) by Jacques Offenbach.Notes to Sony CD SM2K 66616 Of his 1998 performances in The Pirates of Penzance for D'Oyly Carte, The Guardian wrote, "Richard Suart, a natural successor to the great John Reed, patters astoundingly and is gleefully funny as Major-General Stanley."The Guardian, 30 December 1998, p. 2
Suart has played Ko-Ko in The Mikado in revivals of Jonathan Miller's ENO production since 1989The Guardian, 4 January 1989, p. 34Suart, Richard. "The Mikado's Ko-Ko has 20 years of making little lists", The Times, 1 February 2008Suart, Richard. "Most unwanted", The Guardian, 20 January 2006 and for many other companies, including twice with the New York City Opera (2001 and 2003). He is known for frequently rewriting the "little list" song from that opera. He published a book in 2008 excerpting many of his "little list" versions and discussing The Mikado, called They'd None of 'em Be Missed.Church, Michael. "He's getting ready with his little list", The Independent, 3 December 2001Suart, Richard and A. S. H. Smyth. They'd None of 'em Be Missed, Pallas Athene (2008) A second volume, Mikado Memories, with lists of all the casts between 1986 and 2016 and reminiscences from many singers, was published in 2020.Hall, George. "Mikado Memories – book review", Opera, April 2020, Vol.71, No. 4, p. 542. Also for ENO, he played Major-General Stanley in Pirates in 2004.