Have You Heard of Alfie Boe?

Alfred Giovanni Roncalli Boe, known professionally initially as Alf or Alfred Boe and now as Alfie Boe, was born in September, 1973. He is one of my favorite tenors today.

Alfie's first public performance, aged 14, was at Fleetwood's Marine Hall in a "Songs from the Shows" presentation organised by inspirational local singing teacher Lottie Dawson. He states that although he sang only a couple of lines he was extremely nervous.

At the age of 17, Boe became an apprentice mechanic at the TVR factory in Bispham, Blackpool. He enjoyed entertaining his colleagues by singing opera arias while he polished the cars, and one day was overheard by a client with connections in the music industry who was so impressed, he suggested Boe should go to London and audition for the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company. His audition was a success and he gave up polishing cars to embark on a singing career.[4] Boe has never been able to trace the customer who suggested he go for the audition, having lost the man's business card.

Boe moved to London and studied singing at the Royal College of Music, the National Opera Studio and the Royal Opera House's Vilar Young Artists Programme. In 1999 and 2000, he was featured as the "opera dude" on albums by The Clint Boon Experience, led by the former organist of the Inspiral Carpets. In 1999 he sang Ernesto for Scottish Opera in their Opera-Go-Round production of Don Pasquale, touring widely throughout Scotland.

Boe toured the United Kingdom with the Fron Male Voice Choir in February 2007 and took part in the first Classic FM webcast concert with soprano Natasha Marsh in March. The same month he was appointed as an ambassador of The Prince of Wales Arts & Kids Foundation, a British educational charity working to inspire and educate children by introducing them to the arts. Boe's role being to bring music, and opera in particular for those children involved.

He also performed alongside Michael Ball in the English National Opera production of Kismet. His live performance of the song "Stranger in Paradise" from Kismet on the Michael Parkinson show was released as a digital download single on June 25, 2007. In August he realised an ambition to record an album of Neopolitan songs which was released in November under the title La Passione. On August 24, 2007 he performed at the Arundel Festival alongside Natasha Marsh. On October 19, 2007 he performed at Canterbury Cathedral during the Canterbury Festival. He also performed at the annual Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall on November 10, 2007.

On October 3, 2010 Boe took on the role of Jean Valjean in a concert performance of the musical Les Misérables at the O2 Arena in London to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the show, released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc. The concert encore performance of "Bring Him Home", credited as "The Valjean Quartet" — Boe alongside Colm Wilkinson, John Owen-Jones and Simon Bowman (each of whom has portrayed Valjean in various theatrical productions) — was re-recorded at the Abbey Road Studios and released as a charity CD single and digital download on December 13, 2010. On December 16, 2010, Boe once again performed as Valjean in the Royal Variety Performance (in front of Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall) singing "What Have I Done?", and also "Bring Him Home" again alongside Wilkinson, Owen-Jones and Bowman.

In January 2011, Boe performed for English National Opera in La bohème and The Mikado. Boe later performed concerts in Idaho, U.S.A. in March. In April, Boe appeared in The Great British Musical - The Famous and the Future at the Criterion Theatre and the St George's Day celebration concert in Trafalgar Square. In May, Boe went on to perform at the Classical BRIT Awards ceremony at the Royal Albert Hall, in the Isle of Man, and then headlined the Hampton Court Palace Festival finale on June 18, 2011.

He appeared as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables at the Queen's Theatre, London, from June 23, 2011 to November 26, 2011. During his run as Valjean, Boe appeared in the "Les Misérables v Lend Me a Tenor Battle of the Tenors" at Soho's Winnett St, London on July 13, 2011. In August, Boe performed with the National Symphony Orchestra at Beau Sejour and Gloucester Hall.

In October 2011 Boe announced that he would be appearing in the Lytham Proms Festival Weekend on August 4, 2012. Tickets went on sale on October 14, 2011. The Festival is held in the town of Lytham St Annes close to his home town of Fleetwood. The local newspaper Blackpool Gazette describes his concert as a 'homecoming' using the title 'Bring HIM Home'.

On June 4, 2012, Boe performed at the Diamond Jubilee Concert for the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. He sang "’O sole mio" leading into Elvis Presley's "It's Now Or Never". He also sang, with the American soprano Renee Fleming, "Somewhere" from West Side Story, this performance taking place on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. He appeared on The One Show on August 30, 2012.

Reference: Wikipedia.com