Jamie MacDougall

MacDougall studied voice at the Scottish Academy of Music in Glasgow, at the Guildhall School in London, and with Carlo Bergonzi in Italy. From 1988, he was active in concert as part of a vocal ensemble; from 1990, he also sang solo parts in masses and oratorios, both in the UK and in Belgium. And soon, he turned to opera, as well – but got into very serious vocal trouble. When singing Acis in Händel's Acis and Galatea at the 1992 Salzburg Festival, he was hardly able to finish one night, and consulted an osteopath, who found out that as a result of a frontal car crash that had left MacDougall without a scratch in 1988, his cervical spine was so displaced that it affected the posture of his head, and hence the placement of his voice.

He tried to adapt his technique to the new position of his head, but failed. He was a disaster as Don Ottavio in Glyndebourne in 1995, he was an even bigger disaster as Tamino in Leeds in the season 1997/98. In 2000, he gave up singing opera, and became a well-liked presenter of musical programs at the Scottish radio and TV station of the BBC.

With time, and without the pressure to perform, he finally found a new, suitable voice placement, and quite unusually, he succeeded in making a comeback in 2013, so after a quite long time. He would primarily perform in concert now, plus sing the odd comprimario role in opera (Bardolfo, Tanzmeister, Tinca).

Reference 1: The Herald, 4 September 2013; reference 2: Kutsch & Riemens; reference 3, reference 4: Operabase
Picture source: MacDougall's website