| Biography | Roderick Jones, singer, born Ferndale Glamorgan Gwent 2 June 1910, died Newport 16 September 1992.
Roderick Jones was a typical product of the Sadler's Wells Opera tradition, an honest, strong, no-nonsense singer who was willing to tackle, and made his mark in, a wide range of roles, serious and comic. He made his debut in the famous premiere of Peter Grimes on 7 June 1945. On that epoch-making occasion Jones created the role of Balstrode in Britten's opera.
It was the beginning of a five- year period for Jones as principal baritone with Sadler's Wells during which he boxed the compass of roles. He became a great favourite with the loyal Rosebery Avenue public who liked to hear their singers in a variety of parts. His most famous and the one he performed most often was Scarpia to the Tosca of the even more popular Victoria Sladen. They struck sparks off each other and produced the true frisson of verismo opera, not to forget their faultless diction, a sphere in which their successors could well learn much from them.
In 1951, upon the formation of the Welsh National Opera, he was true to his roots. After making his debut with the company as Tonio, he took part in two seminal Verdi productions of then-neglected works, playing the forceful father Montfort in The Sicilian Vespers and the tortured ruler of the title in Nabucco. These underlined his gifts as a singing-actor, one to whom the text was quite as important as the singing.
The son of a miner, he left the pits to study at the Royal Academy of Music, first piano then voice. The war broke into the start of his career. After service in the Royal Navy, he was spotted by Joan Cross, ever on the look-out for new talent, who engaged him for Sadler's Wells, of which she was then director. His Balstrode was the result.
In the late 1950s his career rather petered out, although he was occasionally heard on Third Programme productions of operas. In 1961 he became director of the Jamaica School of Music but returned to Wales in 1970 as a teacher at Aberystwyth University College. |