Trivia

Opera singer (tenor).

Notable students of him included Ian Bostridge, Jacques Imbrailo, David Butt Philip, Andrew Staples and Sam Furness.

He taught at the Royal Northern College of Music, the Royal College of Music, and the Royal Academy of Music.

In 1964 made his professional debut, at the Welsh National Opera in Cardiff as Almaviva in Rossini's The Barber of Seville.

Davies had a long career at the Glyndebourne Festival, where he began in the chorus in 1964, then sang supporting roles such as the Major domo in Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss in 1965, a Sailor in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas and two roles in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte in 1966.

Davies recorded and performed under several major conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Sir Colin Davis, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Carlo Maria Giulini, Herbert von Karajan, Kirill Kondrashin, Sir Simon Rattle, and Mstislav Rostropovich.

During his active career he also sang important roles at the Royal Opera House, the Paris Opéra, San Francisco Opera and the Metropolitan Opera.

He won the John Christie Award of the Glyndebourne Festival in 1965.

He studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music with Frederic Cox, who remained a lifelong friend.

In September 1969, he appeared as Hylas in Les Troyens by Berlioz, conducted by Colin Davis, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

He was a keen rugby player in his youth and at the age of 14 gained a schoolboys' international cap for Wales against both England and Scotland in the 1957-58 season.

He gained his first review in Opera magazine in 1963, while still a student in Manchester, in one of the title roles of Gluck's Paride ed Elena: "His Paris, though well sung, was disadvantaged by a blond Beatle wig that gave him an unromantic resemblance to Harpo Marx.".

In tandem with his operatic career he maintained a distinguished profile at home and abroad with solo roles in a wide range of oratorios and other sacred works, including Bach's B minor Mass, St John in Elgar's The Kingdom, Haydn's Nelson Mass and The Seasons, Obadiah in Mendelssohn's Elijah and Tippett's A Child of Our Time.

Ryland Davies was noted for most of his career as a golden-toned singer of Mozart, Rossini and the lighter Donizetti roles, though latterly of more colourful character parts.

While singing with the Glyndebourne chorus his first solo role was as the Major Domo to the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. The most memorable evening of the run was the one on which Montserrat Caballé, the Marschallin, turned to him and demanded a cognac. Exiting stage left, he was met by an alarmed stage assistant, who was dispatched to the Long Bar to fetch one. Returning to the stage, he delivered the cognac to Caballé with the words "Ecco, Signora!" Whispering "Grazie, grazie!", she turned her back on the audience, drained the glass and continued in her role: "Abtreten die Leut!" ("Send everyone away.").

On the recommendation of Luciano Pavarotti he continued his studies in Italy with Ettore Campogalliani and Luigi Ricci.

He has given master classes in the UK and all over the world, including Amsterdam, Chicago, Houston and Glyndebourne Touring Opera.

Davies married mezzo-soprano Anne Howells in 1966; the marriage ended in divorce in 1981. He later married soprano Deborah Rees.

He made a final return to Scottish Opera in 2014 to sing the Emperor (Turandot) in concert.

In his prime, the music critic Alan Blyth considers, "he had a sweet-toned, lyrical voice and excellent diction.".