Thomas Round

Thomas Round (18 October 1915 – 2 October 2016) was an English tenor and actor born in Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, who became one of the foremost interpreters of leading tenor roles in the Savoy Operas and grand opera. He was the third of four children of a furnace man at a steel mill, and he began singing as a boy in the St Paul's Mission church choir, where he first met Alice York, whom he would later marry. After leaving Barrow Technical College at fifteen, he worked as an apprentice joiner at the mill and competed in local music festivals. In 1936 he joined the police force and was stationed in Lancaster, where he also performed with local musical societies.

Round married Alice at St Paul's Church, Barrow, in 1938. The couple had one son, Ellis, born in 1942, who became an aeronautical engineer. During World War II, Round trained as a fighter pilot in the Royal Air Force, was posted to Canada, and subsequently served at the No. 1 British Flying Training School in Terrell, Texas, as a flying instructor for the United States Army Air Forces. While stationed in Texas, he sang regularly in churches across the state, flying his own aircraft as far as San Antonio to perform at Sunday services. He also appeared on radio and took the role of Canio in a college production of Pagliacci in Dallas, which marked his first stage performance. Although he was offered a place at a music school in New York, he declined and returned to England in 1943.

While still in the RAF, Round auditioned for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company and joined it upon his discharge in February 1946, initially understudying the principal tenor roles and appearing occasionally as Nanki-Poo in The Mikado. By September 1946 he had become the company's principal tenor, performing Ralph Rackstraw in H.M.S. Pinafore, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, Earl Tolloller in Iolanthe, Nanki-Poo in The Mikado, and Luiz in The Gondoliers. It was during this period with D'Oyly Carte, from 1947 to 1948, that Round appeared on Broadway, with credits including The Gondoliers, H.M.S. Pinafore, Iolanthe, Trial by Jury, and The Hot Mikado. He left D'Oyly Carte in 1949, finding the touring schedule demanding, and subsequently appeared in Emile Littler's musical Waltzes from Vienna as the young Johann Strauss, as well as in two ice shows, Rose Marie on Ice in 1950 and the London Melody.

Round then spent six years with Sadler's Wells Opera during the 1950s, taking on a broad range of leading romantic tenor roles including Tamino in The Magic Flute, Jeník in The Bartered Bride, and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, alongside character parts such as Don Basilio in The Marriage of Figaro. He also appeared in Gianni Schicchi, Lilac Time, Eugene Onegin, and less frequently staged works including Rimsky-Korsakov's The Snow Maiden, Wolf-Ferrari's School for Fathers, and John Gardner's adaptation of The Moon and Sixpence. In 1953, he created the tenor lead, Nils, in the world premiere of Delius's Irmelin, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham in Oxford. That same year he appeared in the film The Story of Gilbert and Sullivan. In 1954 he rejoined D'Oyly Carte as a guest artist to play Prince Hilarion in a new production of Princess Ida at the Savoy Theatre, and he sang Don Luis in the zarzuela El barberillo de Lavapiés for a BBC radio broadcast. In 1955, he and the young Heather Harper played the leads in a televised production of La traviata, the first full-length opera broadcast on BBC television.

Round returned to D'Oyly Carte on tour in 1958, resuming his established roles and adding Marco in The Gondoliers. During the company's summer break that year, he played Count Danilo opposite June Bronhill in The Merry Widow at the London Coliseum with Sadler's Wells, a production that was subsequently made into a film. Also in 1958, he participated in the Royal Variety Performance. Between 1960 and 1962 he took on the role of Colonel Fairfax in The Yeomen of the Guard, including a City of London Festival production at the Tower of London in 1962. In 1961 he added Richard Dauntless in Ruddigore and Cyril in Princess Ida to his repertoire, and he participated in the company's extensive North American tour in 1962 and 1963. By 1963 he had also assumed the role of the Defendant in Trial by Jury. Round left D'Oyly Carte for the second time in 1964.

In 1963, Round co-founded Gilbert and Sullivan for All alongside Norman Meadmore and Donald Adams. When Adams departed D'Oyly Carte in 1969, the partners began touring extensively throughout the British Isles, the Far East, Australasia, and North America, including three concerts at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Sullivan's orchestrations were adapted for smaller forces to allow the company to perform in intimate venues. Regular ensemble members included Valerie Masterson and Gillian Knight. Round sang roles spanning Box in Cox and Box through to Marco in The Gondoliers and served as one of the company's directors. Gilbert and Sullivan for All wound down in the 1980s, though Round and Adams continued to appear together in Gilbert and Sullivan productions into the 1990s.

Alongside his Gilbert and Sullivan work, Round played Arthur Sullivan on tour in Tarantara! Tarantara!, a musical about the Gilbert and Sullivan partnership by Ian Taylor, with Donald Adams. He also played Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady. Round broadcast extensively on radio and television throughout his career and contributed to numerous recordings. He continued to perform and lecture into his nineties.