John Coates (tenor) - Training and Career As Baritone

Training and Career As Baritone

John Coates was born in Girlington, Bradford. He came from a musical family on both sides, and for many generations. He attended Bradford Grammar School, where Frederick Delius was his (slightly younger) contemporary. 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, 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, at first playing the baritone role of Mr. Goldbury in Utopia Limited in the original American production. He then created the role of Baron van den Berg in Mirette with D'Oyly Carte at the Savoy Theatre, followed by more touring, and left the company in 1895. Coates then sang in Edwardian musical comedies in London and on tour in the United States. He also introduced Arthur Sullivan's song, "The Absent-Minded Beggar" at the Alhambra Theatre in 1899.