David Menezes

tenor

was born in Barnsley. Whilst studying Classics at St Hugh's College, Oxford, he devoted the greater part of his time to performing Gilbert & Sullivan tenor roles. On completing his degree he took a place at the Royal College of Music, gaining a Postgraduate Certificate in Performance.

Since leaving college David has sung with Glyndebourne Festival, Holland Park, Carl Rosa, the Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company, Grange Park, the Nationale Reisopera of the Netherlands, and Wexford Festival Opera (Goro Madama Butterfly and Dr Caius Falstaff). He has appeared twice with British Youth Opera: as Colonel Fairfax in their 2001 production of The Yeomen of the Guard and in 2003 as Flute in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, also participating in various other BYO projects including workshops and concerts, including masterclasses with Thomas Hemsley and Philip Langridge.

Recently, he has worked with Minotaur Music Theatre (as Pierre - the title role - in Holst's The Wandering Scholar, Don Ottavio Don Giovanni & Mr Box Cox & Box) ; Charles Court Opera ( Mr Box Cox & Box, Mozart Mozart & Salieri, Mr Pettinger The Impresario, Ralph Rackstraw HMS Pinafore, Nanki Poo The Mikado); Longborough Festival Opera, (El Remendado Carmen) and the New London Opera Group, as Thaddeus in Balfe's neglected opera, The Bohemian Girl.

reviews include:

Gustav Holst’s The Wandering Scholar is a farmhouse-kitchen farce with serious moments. Samantha Cole was very fetching as the comely housewife Alison, and Sebastian Valentine was more than adequate as her husband Louis, but the real star turns came from the 19-year-old bass-baritone John Savournin, giving a memorable character performance as the randy priest Father Philippe, and tenor David Menezes as the eponymous wandering scholar who gets to deliver the only serious aria of the piece.

Ruth Elleson - Opera Japonica - June 2005
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In the title role of The Wandering Scholar, David Menezes added another nimble study to his growing list of character tenor roles. Already a seasoned G&S performer, he, like everyone else involved, got every word across.

Patrick O'Connor - Opera Magazine - September 2005
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...David Menezes exploited the comic potential of Flute's attempt to sing Thisbe with nice understatement...

Opera Magazine
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The mechanicals were equally good individually and as a team, coming together in a riotous account of Pyramus and Thisbe that never went out of control. Standouts here were Marc Labonnette's bumptious Bottom and David Menezes' hyper-sensitive Flute.

George Hall - Opera Now
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