At this time he was still Thomas Thomas. Norman Allin advised him to change it, which he did by deed poll.. taking his hero Richard Tauber's first name, and his mother's maiden name of Lewis. So Richard Lewis was born.

Already a superb musician, (he had won a gold medal in the Associated Board exams when he was fifteen) he now studied hard, at the same time auditioning to Benjamin Britten and Sir David Webster (Covent Garden). So studies by day, rehearsals with Britten at Glyndebourne and Covent Garden by night..

Heady stuff for the young man from Manchester!

It was not be long before he was swept to the very top rank of the singing world.

Benjamin Britten was at that time forming his "English Opera Group".  Peter Pears was his first tenor . A second tenor was needed. Lewis was taken on after auditioning, opening at Glyndebourne with 'The Rape of Lucretia' in 1947.

After a huge success the English Opera Group toured Europe and then had a season at Covent Garden.  At last we seemed to have a major world composer. Those were exciting times for British opera,  Richard Lewis was very much part of it.

However, one problem for Richard was that Peter Pears had priority over any other tenor. Britten told Lewis he would never sing a first performance. So, after two seasons, Richard made the decision to leave. For Richard Lewis, being second fiddle was not in the career plan.

He would go on, never the less, to become recognised as a foremost Britten interpreter all over the world. In particular the roles of the captain ('Billy Budd') , Peter ('Peter Grimes').

 

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