Article published in Manchester Evening News 24 March 2016

BARITONE Sir Thomas Allen is a northerner and proud of it. The Geordie lad from County Durham has been the darling of international opera stages and a renowned recital soloist for many years.

And on March 30, at the Bridgewater Hall, his appearance will be one of the highlights of the ‘Echoes of a Mountain Song’ series – a festival of the countryside and open air, in music and poetry.

“There’s a ruggedness about us Northerners,” he told me. “I grew up in a pretty harsh environment, where the majority of people made their living in a tough way. And I’m glad of that – rather than having started life in a privileged position.”
He likes the open-air life, too. “I enjoyed walking a lot when I was young. I used to put on my rucksack and go youth hostelling. Now I love nature and bird watching.

“And I play golf – less regularly than I used to, but I still enjoy it. It takes you into some lovely landscapes …”

His programme, with pianist Joseph Middleton, includes Vaughan Williams’ Songs Of Travel and the ever-popular Linden Lea.

He’ll be singing items from George Butterworth’s settings of Housman’s A Shropshire Lad poems – Butterworth was killed in the First World War, and those poems were often treasured by the Tommies in the trenches.

He’s also bringing some of his favourite lighter items, the kind included on his two CDs of Songs My Father Taught Me.

“They have a sentimental charm,” he says, “and were well known in past generations. And we tend to cling on to songs like this – about the lost generation in the war, and the generation left behind.

“They can be simply stated, but still very truthful and telling.”

Now in his 70s, he’s still concerned about helping a new generation of singers to take on the tradition he’s been part of. He’s patron of The Samling Trust, an organization based in the North now celebrating 20 years of helping young singers on the road to professional careers. It’s recently enlarged its remit to start The Samling Academy, for promising performers still at school.

“It’s come as a surprise to some people that those at school have a liking for classical songs,” he says. “But we need to stand up for them: my concern is to see that this kind of singing and music-making is not swamped or overlooked.”