Opera Scotland

Keith Latham Suggest updates

Born Burnley, 27 January 1954.

Died Birmingham, 26 January 2001.

English baritone.

Keith Latham's career centred on performances with Opera North of major baritone roles from the Italian repertoire, especially works by Verdi.

He trained at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, having previously spent several years working in the engineering industry.  Roles at college included Don Carlo in a production by Elijah Moshinsky of Ernani.  He then spent a season singing several parts with Scottish Opera, making his first Edinburgh Festival appearance in Cavalli's Orion.

After joining Opera North in 1984 he sang several Verdi roles including Macbeth, Luna, Germont and Amonasro. He also appeared in two Verdi rarities - the Count of Toulouse in the British première of Jérusalem, and Giacomo in Giovanna d'Arco.  His Puccini roles included Sharpless and Scarpia, and he also sang  Enrico Ashton,  Zurga,  Wolfram,  Barnaba La gioconda and the Bishop Genoveva, a role which brought him back to the Edinburgh Festival.

He made his ENO debut in the première of Timon of Athens (Stephen Oliver 1991).  His Verdi roles at the Coliseum included Paolo Albiani, Ford and Rigoletto, and he also sang Scarpia, Don Pizarro and the Forester.  At Welsh National he sang Iago, and with City of Birmingham Touring Opera he appeared as Alberich in Graham Vick's production of the Jonathan Dove abbreviation of the Ring.

Appearances abroad included Rigoletto in Brisbane and Prague, as well as Falstaff in Dublin.