From London’s grand Royal Albert Hall to Sweden’s breathtaking Scandinavium, internationally renowned opera singer Thomas Edmonds has graced the stages of some of the world’s most beautiful concert halls and arenas.
The 90-year-old has rubbed shoulders with the entertainment industry’s elite and sung before audiences numbered by the thousands.
Despite the grandeur of his operatic career, Thomas is just as much at home tending to the garden or tinkering around his shed.
The boy from the bush, near the small town of Yongala in South Australia’s Mid North, now enjoys a quieter life at Mt Barker where he has lived with his wife, one of Australia’s most distinguished mezzo-sopranos Elizabeth Campbell, for almost 40 years.
Thomas’ latest achievement has been writing his memoir, Ev’ry Valley – A Tenor’s Journey, which recounts the humble beginnings on his parents’ farm, through to his years as a teacher and remarkable success as an opera singer.
Born in 1934 during the Depression, Thomas was one of six children, growing up rabbiting, swimming in dams and singing cowboy songs.
Attending primary school in the town of Peterborough, he took singing lessons and often performed in local concerts raising money for the war effort.
“I learned songs very quickly,” he says.
“I had that sort of musical brain I suppose.
“The singing was just a natural part of my being, but I’d never thought of it in any sort of professional way.
“When I went to high school, they did an end of year musical, Cinderella, and they chose me to be the prince because I was the only kid in the school who could sing the music.
“I was 12 and the girl who played Cinderella was 16.
“I think she was affronted because opposite her was a kid in short pants.
“She was a young woman and I was still a kid.”
Attending teacher’s college and university, Thomas went on to spend around 15 years teaching in high schools in regional South Australia and Adelaide, eventually working his way up to Deputy Headmaster at Westminster School in Marion.
Thomas also continued performing and took up vocal studies at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, but it wasn’t until 1968 when his career path took a dramatic turn.
The television talent show Showcase had been running for a few years when he auditioned at Channel 9 in North Adelaide and sang A wand’ring minstrel from The Mikado.
He went on to win both the judges’ vote and the public’s vote – a result he says was “astonishing to me”.
“I described it in the book as like a penny bomb going off in a billy can – that’s how the success hit me,” he says.
“Suddenly, in a split second, I could see that my life was going to change just like that.
“And then, of course, it did.”
The prize included two round the world first class airfares, so Thomas travelled to England with his first wife, Ruth, and young son, Tim, leaving the world of teaching behind, with his sights set on an operatic career.
His talent quickly gained widespread recognition, leading to numerous performances in oratorios, concerts and operas including the world premiere of Britten’s Death in Venice.
Over the years he performed in about 50 operas and has recorded 24 albums.
Travelling between Australia and England for many years, Thomas enjoyed both smaller, intimate appearances and grand performances before thousands of people.
He recalls one performance at Tanunda’s Melodienacht, where he was dressed in a frilly pink tutu and fluffy slippers. He sang Tessie O’Shea’s Nobody Loves a Fairy When She’s Forty, proving his commitment to all music forms from silly and light-hearted tunes to bold operatic numbers.
Thomas’ voice has filled some of the most prestigious venues around the world including the Royal Albert Hall and Covent Garden in London, Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the La Monnaie in Belgium and the King’s Theatre in Edinburgh.
The biggest venue was the Scandinavium in Gothenburg where he performed Handel’s Messiah alongside an 8000-person choir and before 10,000 audience members.
“I became very accustomed to performing, but at the first rehearsal in the Scandinavium, I remember looking around to take it all in, it was just so scary,” he says.
This memory brings Thomas back to his childhood, when he would hold a piece of quartz crystal, found at home on the farm, to calm his nerves on stage.
“I’d hold it in my hand because it suggested to me that my family were there because they were rarely with me at the concerts,” he says.
“It bolstered my self-confidence and made me feel a bit less nervous.
“Eventually, when I got a bit older, I threw it away.
“I thought I didn’t need it anymore.
“How stupid it is to be young like that!”
In 1991, Thomas performed his last opera role in Richard Strauss’ Salome before retiring to Mt Barker.
He continued to teach singing, passing on his wisdom to students at Adelaide’s Elder Conservatorium and at home.
He recounts his lifetime’s work with a warm appreciation for all the people he met along the way, while acknowledging that show business is a tough pursuit.
“It wasn’t an easy profession, but it was a rewarding time,” he says.
“The people were a joy to be with and it was a privilege to sing such beautiful music.
“Mozart, for example, is very satisfying to sing – I don’t think Mozart wrote a bad note in his life.”
Ev’ry Valley – A Tenor’s Journey was launched in April at the State Opera Studio in Netley where SA Governor Frances Adamson gave Thomas a small gift for his 90th birthday.
With the assistance of the South Australian Museum, she presented him a quartz crystal from the Peterborough region.
“I sang in Yongala, the nearest town to my home farm when I was 10 years old, which was of course 80 years ago,” Thomas says.
“I went back there to sing a few weeks ago and I held the piece of quartz the Governor had given me in my hand.
“I’ve come full circle.”
Ev’ry Valley – A Tenor’s Journey is available in some book stores or by emailing [email protected]
