Individual biographies
Mark Dobell (tenor)
 So, how did I find myself associated with this rogues’ gallery? Well, I suppose I have been singing since I was very small (perhaps I should rephrase that – very young) in school choirs and so on. I even had a dabble at playing various instruments: my mother forced me to give up the violin, and I could only ever play ‘Happy Birthday’ on the saxophone, so I guess I discovered where my strength was pretty early on. Singing was still a hobby though when I found myself at Clare College, Cambridge, reading Classics, but after three years as a choral scholar there, and unsure how best to use my Classics degree, I applied – successfully - for a job as a lay clerk at St George’s, Windsor. It was only then that I gave serious thought to the rather ambitious notion of making a living out of singing. A rent-free flat in a castle is a deceptive thing.
Three years later I started a postgraduate course at the Royal Academy of Music, under the expert guidance of Edward Brooks. Highlights of my two years there include a very exciting - for me, at any rate - operatic debut as the Male Chorus in Britten’s Rape of Lucretia, and winning a prize for the best final recital. All the while I had been wheedling my way into various choirs and consort groups, including the Sixteen, the Tallis Scholars and the Monteverdi Choir, as well as doing the almost statutory church work to make ends meet – the Brompton Oratory, followed by St Bride’s Fleet Street. And then one day my boss, one Robert Jones, invited me to do an audition – correction, two long and difficult auditions - for the Orlando Consort. I’m assured I was not chosen for my height and hairline. That was in 2002 and the rest, as they say…I still like to do solo work too, mainly oratorio stuff, but also the occasional opera – most recently The Rescue from the Seraglio, which earned me the following review in Opera Magazine: “Mark Dobell’s robust Pedrillo had no problem with the high B in ‘Frisch zum Kampfe’. I can tell you that’s not quite true, but I’m glad it sounded that way! I should mention that I married the lovely Susan, who’s also a singer, at almost the same time as I joined the Orlandos. Sorry ladies! |
