7:00am Friday 5th February 2010
IN 2007, Anthony Gregory was delighted to learn that he had been awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Music where he joined the graduate diploma course in vocal performance.
More than two years on, Anthony is studying at the Royal College of Music International Opera School where he has been the Constant and Kit Lambert Scholar and is currently the Drapers de Turckheim Scholar.
“I auditioned for the Musicians’ Benevolent Fund as well and I was lucky enough to get the Ian Fleming Award from them,” said Anthony.
“It’s fantastic. It’s a really, really good course and a natural progression from the post-graduate course into opera, but it’s very competitive.”
Anthony has another year and a half at college, but is increasingly having to juggle his course with work, as his career begins to take off. Last summer he made his operatic debut in France, singing Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Opera De Bauge, which he says “was great”.
And, at the end of March, he will be singing at Glyndebourne, in the chorus for all operas and, through the Jerwood Chorus Development Scheme, he has also been given the chance to understudy a lead role, chosen as one of three singers to benefit from the scheme.
Although Anthony, a former head chorister at Hereford Cathedral, admits to a briefly held ambition to become an accountant, “but I was horrendous at maths”, his passion for singing has been constant and a career in opera always in his sights.
At only 25, the role he covets – of Alfredo in Verdi’s La Traviata – lies in the future, but the success he is already enjoying suggests that it will be his for the taking when the time comes.
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