John Coates

John Coates
1865 – 1941
English tenor

His early singing experience came as a chorister in a church choir (under his father's direction), where he learnt the importance of accent in singing from the performance of the Gregorian chant. He studied voice under multiple teachers: in Yorkshire under J. G. Walton, Robert Burton and Dr. J. C. Bridge, and in London under W. Shakespeare and T. A. Wallworth, and in Paris under Jacques Bouhy.Coates began his performing career as a baritone. He first appeared as Valentin in Gounod's Faust, as an amateur, with the Carl Rosa Opera Company in Manchester and Liverpool. After further training, he was engaged by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company for its 1894 tour, Reappeared as a tenor in light opera in 1899-1900 at the Globe Theatre in London. He first appeared at the Globe Theatre in The Gay Pretenders in November 1900 and then at Covent Garden Opera House to created the role of Claudio in Charles Villiers Stanford's four-act opera "Much Ado About Nothing" in 1901.This was followed by Gounod's Faust, this time in the title role. That year he also appeared in the "Gürzenich's Concerts and Opera" at Cologne and Leipzig.Coates became one of the most popular festival singers in England,