Garrick Jones – Baritone

Garrick Jones
Baritone

Baritone Garrick Jones was born in Sydney where he studied at the NSW Conservatorium of Music. In 1972 he went to Britain with the University of NSW to perform at the International Youth Music Festival at Aberdeen, Scotland, and later performed extensively in Europe and the United States in opera and concert.
During the following nine years Garrick’s British operatic engagements included performances of over fifty roles in standard repertoire with companies including Opera Rara, Kent Opera and the English National Opera. He has sung at major festivals in Europe performing the title role in Don Giovanni at Bath, Lubin in Les Troqueurs by D’Auvergne at Malvern Festival, Adonis in Venus and Adonis by Blow at Schwetzingen Festival, in Edinburgh for three years running including the Offenbach Centenary Productions and Montepulciano, where among other roles, he sang MacHeath in Hans Werner Henze’s controversial production of Weill’s Threepenny Opera, also recorded for the West Deutsches Rundfunk. He was a guest performer in many German houses over this period performing such roles as: Dandini, La Cenerentola Onegin, Eugene Onegin Guglielmo, Cosi fan tutte Falke, Die Fledermaus Count Almaviva, The Marriage of Figaro Schaunard and Marcello, La bohème Harlequin, Ariadne auf Naxos and Malatesta, Don Pasquale. He was invited to sing Guglielmo in a special Royal Command performance in the royal palace in Bruxelles.
In 1981 Garrick returned to Australia on the invitation of The Australian Opera (now Opera Australia) to perform Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos and Le Compte de Nevers in Les Huguenots. Other Australian Opera engagements have included: Mengotto in La Buona Figlioula, Zurga in The Pearl Fishers and Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier, Mercutio in Romeo et Juliette for Opera in the Park and Kromow in The Merry Widow in both Sydney and Melbourne. Roles covered for The Australian Opera include: Albert, Werther Marcello, La bohème Voss, Voss Byron, Mer de Glace Figaro in The Marriage of Figaro, the title role in Don Giovanni and the role of Ping in Turandot for the 1996 Adelaide and Brisbane seasons.
For the State Opera Companies Garrick has performed the title role in Don Giovanni for West Australian Opera Escamillo, Carmen for Canberra Opera Guglielmo, Cosi fan tutte and Strephon in Iolanthe for the Lyric Opera of Queensland Guglielmo, Cosi fan tutte and Marcello, La bohème for Victoria State Opera and Figaro, The Barber of Seville and Count Almaviva, The Marriage of Figaro for the State Opera of South Australia. He also sang the role of Marcello in La bohème for Regal Opera in Perth.
Garrick has twice been invited to sing at the Hong Kong International Festival, performing Count Robinson, the Secret Marriage by Cimarosa in 1983 and Guglielmo, Cosi fan tutte in 1984. In addition Garrick has performed Mahler’s Songs of A Wayfarer for the Australian Ballet Foundation and made a guest appearance as Golaud, Pelléas and Mélisande for the NSW Conservatorium. Other engagements have included the ABC’s 50th Anniversary television opera Quiros by Peter Sculthorpe and the world premiere of A Distant Shore by Andrew Schultz and Louis Nowra which was commissioned for him.
In contemporary opera, Garrick earned critical acclaim for his performance as Blazes in Peter Maxwell Davies’ The Lighthouse for the Seymour Group in Sydney and the Festival of Perth. He has also sang the title role in The Australian Opera production of Poe by Andrew Ford and Meisel in the Golem by Larry Sisky The Australian Opera. Garrick also appeared in Beach Dreaming and in Foxy & Fahrenheit and as Dick in Christina’s World by Ross Edwards for Sydney Metropolitan Opera.
Concert performances include Miller Meets Mozart for The Hunter Orchestra in Newcastle with Tommy Tycho, The Last Night of the Festival with Rita Hunter at the Melbourne International Festival, a Vaughan Williams’ Concert with The School of Music, University of New South Wales and Victory Cabaret for the Mudgee Festival with Sydney Metropolitan Opera.