Gerard McChrystal
Saxophone Tutor
Job Role: Vocal Teacher, Opera Tutor
Department: Courses
Honours: BA (Cantab), MA (Sussex)
Geoffrey was born in Abercynon. He read History at Emmanuel College Cambridge and was a choral exhibitioner. He taught at Charterhouse initially before studying singing at the Guildhall.
Geoffrey joined WNO, making his debut as Don Basilio in The Barber of Seville, before singing more than thirty roles with that company as a company member then guest, his repertoire encompassing all styles from the Baroque to the Contemporary but particularly the major bass ‘bel canto’ roles. Including Giorgio in I Puritani, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Rodolfo in La Sonnambula and Guardiano in La Forza del Destino. He also sang King Mark in Tristan and Isolde, Fotis in The Greek Passion, Seneca in The Coronation of Poppea and Zachariah in Nabucco amongst others.
He subsequently developed his freelance career with debuts at the Royal Opera, Glyndebourne and ENO, returning frequently during his career in a variety of repertoire, including his debut with ROH as Lindorf in Tales of Hoffman, performances of Otello at ROH under Carlos Kleiber and Massenet’s Esclarmonde with Richard Bonynge.
He appeared at Glyndebourne regularly both in the festival and on tour including Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra, Bartolo in Figaro, Hobson in Peter Grimes, Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Other repertoire included Mephistopheles in Faust for ENO, Ferrando in Il Trovatore for Scottish Opera. Geoffrey created the role of Peter in Harrison Birtwistle’s The Last Supper at Berlin Staatsoper under Daniel Barenboim. He has appeared in many other major European opera houses including Hamburg, Berlin, Brussels, Amsterdam, Seville, Venice and Paris in wide ranging repertoire.
Concert appearances include Verdi’s Requiem at the Berlin Philharmonic, Berlioz’ The Damnation of Faust at Frankfurt Alter Oper under Sir George Solti, Rossini’s Stabat Mater at the Royal Festival Hall and Handel’s Messiah at the Royal Albert Hall.
Geoffrey teaches following the principles of ’bel canto’, focusing on the development and engagement of the whole vocal organ to allow a free and emotional response to performing.
Geoffrey appeared in The Marriage of Figaro and Falstaff on TV for the BBC and features on several commercial Opera recordings.