1. Albert Lance was an Australian tenor, holding French citizenship.
17 Facts About Albert Lance
1. 2.
Albert Lance was Australia's principal tenor during the 1950s and later enjoyed a highly successful career in France.
3.
Albert Lance was born in Medindie, South Australia as Lancelot Albert Ingram, but was usually known as Lance Ingram.
4.
Albert Lance began singing as a child, in school and in church choir.
5.
Albert Lance's mother made him study voice at the Melbourne Music Conservatory.
6.
Albert Lance made his debut there, as Cavaradossi in Tosca, in 1950, and went on to sing Rodolfo in La boheme, and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, to considerable acclaim.
7.
Albert Lance then appeared as the lead in The Tales of Hoffmann given in honour of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
8.
Albert Lance quickly established himself as one of the leading "French tenors" of the time, at both the Opera-Comique and the Opera until 1972, singing the great French roles such as Romeo in Romeo et Juliette, des Grieux in Manon, Werther, Don Jose in Carmen, etc.
9.
Albert Lance was invited to perform at the opera houses of Lyon, Bordeaux, and Marseille, as well as London, Vienna, Moscow, Leningrad, and Buenos Aires.
10.
Albert Lance made his American debut at the San Francisco Opera in 1961, in the creation of Norman Dello Joio's Blood Moon.
11.
Albert Lance became a permanent member of the Opera national du Rhin in Strasbourg from 1973 until his retirement in 1977.
12.
Albert Lance left a few recordings, notably a complete Werther made in 1964, with Rita Gorr, Mady Mesple, Gabriel Bacquier, conducted by Jesus Etcheverry.
13.
EMI has published the kinescope of the 1958 Paris debut of Maria Callas, "La Grande Nuit de l'Opera," in which Albert Lance appeared, on DVD.
14.
Albert Lance is heard in an excerpt from Il trovatore, and is seen in a staged Act II of Tosca, opposite Callas and Tito Gobbi, conducted by Georges Sebastian.
15.
In March 2011, the French opera community announced that Albert Lance would be the first Australian to be the President of the Paris Opera Jubilee.
16.
Albert Lance died on 15 May 2013 in Colomars, France.
17.
Albert Lance is survived by wife and former mezzo-soprano Iris Paque, daughter Marie-Christine Albert Lance and grandson Matthew.