Obituary, John Shirley-Quirk (1931-2014)

The great British bass-baritone John Shirley-Quirk has died aged 82. Born in Liverpool in 1931, Shirley-Quirk was a keen singer and violinist from childhood but initially had no thought of a musical career, reading chemistry at university and teaching the subject at Acton Technical College until the age of thirty. Throughout his late twenties, though, singing assumed an increasing prominence in his life following studies with the Roy Henderson (who had also taught Kathleen Ferrier), and in 1961 he took on his first major engagement, understudying in Henze’s Elegy for Young Lovers at Glyndebourne. Not long afterwards, a performance of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio at Ipswich Town Hall (featuring Peter Pears as Evangelist) brought him into contact with the composer with whom he would be most closely associated, Benjamin Britten.

Immediately impressed with his presence and musicality, Britten engaged him to sing the demanding role of The Ferryman in his church parable Curlew River; Shirley-Quirk would go on to sing many more Britten roles, including Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Spencer Coyle in Owen Wingrave and most famously the seven sinister baritone roles in his final opera, Death in Venice. Britten also regularly conducted him in other composers’ works, including an acclaimed Dream of Gerontius which was recorded for Decca.

A versatile international artist, Shirley-Quirk took on assignments as diverse and demanding as Bartok’s Duke Bluebeard, Berg’s Wozzeck and Lev in Michael Tippett’s The Ice Break (a role which he created) – but he is perhaps best loved for his interpretations of English song and eloquent, commanding oratorio performances, many of which are preserved on disc. His recordings of works including the Bach Passions, Messiah, Haydn's Seasons and Creation, and Carmina Burana (with distinguished colleagues such as Heather Harper, Dame Janet Baker and Sir Colin Davis) represent something of a golden age for English oratorio, and his interpretations of solo works by Delius, Finzi, Butterworth and Vaughan Williams are equally renowned for their elegance and immaculate diction.

Shirley-Quirk never officially retired from the operatic stage, appearing as Konrad Nachtigall in Die Meistersinger at the Edinburgh Festival just eight years ago. Even after scaling down his performing commitments, he remained active as a musical ambassador and teacher, holding faculty positions in Bath and Baltimore (where he was renowned as a patient, inspiring teacher) until his death. He is survived by his third wife, the cellist Teresa Perez.

Highlights from Shirley-Quirk's legacy on disc