Early Career
Kenningham was born in Hull, England. He began his musical career as a boy soprano soloist, at age eight, at Holy Trinity Church in Hull. He was then principal solo boy at St Paul’s Cathedral in London at age 10. After his voice changed, he became the organist and choir master at St Luke’s Church in Hull at age fourteen. He soon became interested in a stage career but first enlisted in the 5th Dragoon Guards. With that military company, he travelled to Egypt in 1882, taking part in two engagements. He then returned to England, where he was stationed at York and gave organ recitals, earning enough from these to purchase his military discharge. His London stage debut was at the Adelphi Theatre in 1882 as Duvalor in the first performance of Haydn Millar's operetta Mariette's Wedding.
Kenningham soon became the principal tenor at Canterbury Cathedral, where he sang for almost five years. He went on to create the role of Maurice de Bracy in Sir Arthur Sullivan's grand opera, Ivanhoe, at the Royal English Opera House from January to July 1891.
Read more about this topic: Charles Kenningham
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or career:
“Love is the hardest thing in the world to write about. So simple. You’ve got to catch it through details, like the early morning sunlight hitting the gray tin of the rain spout in front of her house. The ringing of a telephone that sounds like Beethoven’s “Pastoral.” A letter scribbled on her office stationery that you carry around in your pocket because it smells of all the lilacs in Ohio.”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“A black boxer’s career is the perfect metaphor for the career of a black male. Every day is like being in the gym, sparring with impersonal opponents as one faces the rudeness and hostility that a black male must confront in the United States, where he is the object of both fear and fascination.”
—Ishmael Reed (b. 1938)