Eduardo Asquez

Eduardo Asquez, Spanish tenor and singing teacher, was born in La Linea, Spain, on 7 June 1919. When a child, he moved to Casablanca, Morocco, where he received a general education and attended the music conservatory. He made his debut in Casablanca in Les pêcheurs de perles. In 1945/46, Asquez went to Gibraltar, where he sang in the zarzuela La dolorosa (by Serrano) at the Royal Theatre and also performed many concerts. In 1950, he arrived in England and subsequently joined the Carl Rosa Opera Company, singing numerous roles until 1958, including Faust, Rodolfo, the Duke of Mantua and Don Ottavio. In 1960, he appeared as the Italian Chef in The Most Happy Fella (by Loesser) at the London Coliseum. At a relatively early age, he gave up singing to devote his life to teaching; his many pupils included Neill Archer, Marie Collier, Michael Druiett, Valerie Masterson, Anthony Michaels-Moore, Patrick Power, Jeffrey Talbot, Neilson Taylor, Vivian Tierney and Pauline Tinsley. His students successfully enticed him to come out of retirement and perform a recital at the Purcell Room on 2 April 1973. He was an exceedingly talented painter and received commissions from Spain and Gibraltar. He passed away at the age of 79 on 20 September 1998 in Paisley, Scotland. Asquez had a British passport all his life. His family name comes from Asquith.

I wish to thank John Freere Perry for the recording, notes and pictures.