Simon Keenlyside was born in 1959 and, after studying zoology at Cambridge as a choral scholar, trained in voice at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester with baritone John Cameron, followed by private study with Rudolf Knoll at the Salzburg Mozarteum. He made his professional operatic debut at Hamburg State Opera in 1988 as Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, followed by engagements with Scottish Opera and debuts at Covent Garden (1989), Glyndebourne (1993), and the Metropolitan Opera (1996).

Keenlyside is regarded as one of the leading baritones of his generation, having created roles including Prospero in Thomas Adès’ The Tempest and Winston Smith in Lorin Maazel’s 1984. He won a Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording in 2005 for The Marriage of Figaro, the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera in 2006, and was named Musical America’s Vocalist of the Year in 2011; he was appointed CBE in 2003 and knighted in 2018.

Sources:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Keenlyside