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Arthur Davies (born 11 April 1941) is a Welsh tenor who had an active international performance career from the 1970s through the 1990s. He has performed leading roles with The Royal Opera in London, the Welsh National Opera, the Scottish Opera, and the English National Opera.
Life and career
Born in Wrexham, Wales, Davies is a graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music where he was a pupil of tenor Joseph Ward. In 1972 he made his professional opera debut as Squeak in Benjamin Britten's Billy Budd at the Welsh National Opera (WNO). He has subsequently performed numerous times for the WNO in parts like Count Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, Don José in Carmen, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Nemorino in L'elisir d'amore, Rodolfo in La bohème, and the title role in Albert Herring.
In 1976 Davies made his debut at The Royal Opera in London in the world premiere of Hans Werner Henze's We Come to the River. He has since returned to the Royal Opera as Alfredo in La traviata, Foresto in Attila, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, and Steva in Jenůfa. He has sung a large number of roles for the English National Opera, including Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto, Gabriele Adorno in Simon Boccanegra, Lensky in Eugene Onegin, and the title roles in Faust and Werther among others.
While Davies primarily performed in the UK, he did occasionally perform elsewhere. He made his United States debut in 1985 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Don Jose. In 1990 he made his debut at the Cincinnati Opera as Faust and returned there in 1995 to portray the title role in Andrea Chénier. He went on to perform the latter role widely for performances at the Bolshoi Theater, the Leipzig Opera, the Municipal Theatre of Santiago, the New Orleans Opera, the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, and the Vlaamse Opera. He sang Foresto for his debut at the Teatro Colón in 1994.