{{Short description|English tenor (1932–2019)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Joseph Ward''' OBE (22 May 1932<!-- before changing this see talk --> in Preston<ref name="Kennedy"/> – 27 April 2019<ref name="Wagnerqld">Jennette Johnstone: [https://wagnerqld.com.au/vale-joseph-ward/ Vale Joseph Ward] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190508190507/https://wagnerqld.com.au/vale-joseph-ward/ |date=2019-05-08 }} The Wagner Society in Queensland,</ref><ref name="Salazar">Francisco Salazar: [http://operawire.com/obituary-english-tenor-joseph-ward-dies/ Obituary: English Tenor Joseph Ward Dies] operawire.com 8 May 2019</ref>) was an English tenor, formerly a baritone, who created roles in operas by Benjamin Britten and Michael Tippett. He has also made a career as a singing teacher – his pupils include Jane Eaglen – and opera producer.
In the 1950s, he toured with the Carl Rosa Opera, appearing in several operas including the company's final production staged in Nottingham in 1956.<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00v71w6 "The Carl Rosa Opera"], BBC, accessed 16 December 2016</ref> As a baritone he created the role of Starveling in Britten's ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'' (1960), and in the same year sang the same composer's eponymous hero ''Billy Budd'' in the radio-broadcast premiere of the revised two-act version.<ref name="Kennedy">Michael Kennedy and Joyce Kennedy, Oxford Concise Dictionary of Music, 2007</ref> He became principal baritone at The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, making his debut there in 1962.<ref name="Kennedy"/> He also created the role of Patroclus in Tippett's opera ''King Priam''.<ref name=rcm>{{cite web |accessdate=2009-02-09 |url=http://www.rcm.ac.uk/Studying/Professors+and+Faculties/ProfessorDetails?staff_code=JK786 |title=Royal College of Music: Joseph Ward |publisher= Royal College of Music |year=}}</ref> He recorded as a baritone the role of Sid in Britten's ''Albert Herring'', conducted by the composer. He subsequently transferred to the tenor repertoire and became Covent Garden's resident principal tenor.<ref name="Wagnerqld" />
A friend of Joan Sutherland's, he was a principal tenor with the Sutherland-Williamson Grand Opera Company in a 1965 tour of Australia.<ref name=rcm/>
In 1966, he appeared in the sole recording of Bernard Herrmann's only opera, ''Wuthering Heights'', conducted by the composer.<ref name="Wagnerqld" />
In 1972, he founded the Opera School at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester and subsequently became Head of Vocal Studies there in 1986.<ref name="Kennedy"/><ref name=rcm/> He was appointed an OBE in the 1992 Birthday Honours List for his services.
In Australia, he directed productions of ''Billy Budd'' and Ralph Vaughan Williams's ''The Pilgrim's Progress''.<ref name=rcm/> He sang as a tenor in the first recording of the latter opera, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult. He died on 27 April 2019.<ref name="Wagnerqld" /> He was a teacher at the Queensland Conservatorium of Music.<ref name="Wagnerqld" />
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ward, Joseph}} Category:English male singers Category:English opera singers Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire Category:Musicians from Preston, Lancashire Category:1932 births Category:2019 deaths