Peter Pears
(1910-1986), SingerSir Peter Neville Luard Pears
Sitter in 31 portraits
Pears met Benjamin Britten in 1934, when he was a member of the BBC Singers. They gave their first recital together in 1937 at Balliol College, Oxford. Britten wrote for Pears a variety of leading roles in almost all his principal operas, from Peter Grimes (1945) to Death in Venice (1973). Pears made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera in October 1974 as Aschenbach in Death in Venice. He sang regularly at the Royal Opera House and other opera houses in Europe and the United States. He was also a celebrated interpreter of Franz Schubert's Lieder, usually with Britten as accompanist and he gave performances as the Evangelist in Johann Sebastian Bach's Passions.
Comments back to top
We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.
If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.