SPONSORED: CD Spotlight. View from the Celli - Philip Sawyers' Symphony No 3 impresses Alice McVeigh.
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SPONSORED: Ensemble. Melting Rhapsody - Malcolm Miller enjoys Jack Liebeck and Danny Driver's 'Hebrew Melody' recital, plus a recital by David Aaron Carpenter.
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The Scottish lyric tenor Kenneth McKellar was born in Paisley on 23 June 1927. Initially he studied science at Aberdeen University then worked for the Scottish Forestry Commission for a couple of years. Then he switched to music, studying at the Royal College of Music in London. He sang as a principal tenor with the Carl Rosa Opera Company for a couple of years before deciding that life as an opera singer was not for him, and then signed a recording contract with Decca and went on to record a huge variety of music, from oratorio to folk music, to great success.
He did a great deal outside of music, too, helping to promote the Scottish cause, including writing a book, and even contributed scripts to Monty Python's Flying Circus.
He retired from singing in 1997 and died in Nevada, USA, on 9 April 2010, aged 82.
Palpable Sincerity - Robin Daniels pays tribute to the Scottish tenor Kenneth McKellar (1927-2010)