Philip Langridge was, without doubt, one of this country’s leading tenors. He once said at a Co-Opera Co. workshop that he was eternally grateful that with such a “flawed” instrument – his words – he should have had such an amazing career. It was typical of Philip to be so self – effacing. But of course he was all too aware that the instrument, the voice, is but a tiny element – albeit an essential one – of the opera singers’ armoury. It was Philip’s total commitment to every aspect of theatre that made him the consummate artist he undoubtedly was. It was that commitment and understanding of the opera singer’s art that he wanted to impart to the next generation and he did so with just the same energy and fervour that he gave to his operatic roles.
Philip contacted us in the very early days of Co-Opera Co. back in December 2008, having chatted to Eiddwen Harrhy, one of our members, about the work we wanted to do with young singers. He said he wanted to help Co-Opera Co. in any way he could because he believed in what were trying to achieve. And of course he was true to his word; he became a spokesman for our work giving interviews to the industry magazines and he was one of the first members to join us in a rehearsal room in Bethnal Green in our first series of weekend workshops. He worked tirelessly, always complaining after a six hour session, that we hadn’t allowed him enough time!
His help was not confined to his valuable work in our workshops; he wanted to help us to build a charitable fund for those singers who have difficulty finding the money for the fees we have to charge for workshops and the summer course. To that end we started the process of seeking charitable status and Philip was to have been one of our trustees. Sadly, he will not be with us to see the charity begin. We want to ensure that the work that Philip started with Co-Opera Co. continues and so we have decided that there should be a bursary fund in his name:-
