Peter Knapp

Biography

Peter Knapp brings an in-depth understanding of the physical processes involved in singing and speaking to his training of performers.  A very experienced performer and vocal coach himself, he has also trained as a yoga teacher and incorporates its principles into his work. As a performer he has enjoyed a distinguished career as an operatic baritone, concert singer and recitalist and appeared throughout the UK and abroad. After university he studied privately in London and in Italy, where he worked with the Italian baritone Tito Gobbi. He made his professional debut as Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro with the Glyndebourne Tour and sang the same role at English National Opera as well as the title role in Don Giovanni.  His career has seen him sing the principle roles in a wide range of operas including Nabucco, Macbeth, Il Trovatore, La Traviata, Rigoletto, Falstaff, Fidelio, Eugene Onegin, The Barber of Seville, Così fan tutte, La Bohème, Tosca, Tanhäuser and Szymanowski’s King Roger, the title role of which he sang in the British premier, under Charles Mackerras. He also created the role of Maxim in Joseph’s opera Rebecca for Opera North. He has appeared in baroque opera singing Monteverdi’s Orfeo (filmed by BBC Television), a role he also sang in the Maggio Musicale in Florence. In concert he has appeared with many leading orchestras and conductors, including the Berlin Philharmonic, and made extended trips to Australia, as well as North and South America.  As a recitalist, early success in prestigious competitions led to invitations from festivals and music societies, together with regular broadcasts on BBC Radio 3. 

Always dedicated to training new generations of performers, he was Director of Opera at the Royal Academy of music and set up British Youth Opera. He then created his own company, Travelling Opera, which presented medium scale productions of opera and musical theatre and toured extensively in the UK, with seasons in London at the South Bank and Barbican Concert Halls and Sadlers Wells. This involved his translating and creating new performing versions of the repertoire, which he directed and conducted. As well as at Trinity Laban, he has taught at The Drama Centre at Central St Martin’s and at the City and Sussex Universities.