David Hillman

David Hillman (21 November 1934 – 8 August 2009) was an English operatic tenor who sang with all the leading opera companies in the United Kingdom. Early career David Hillman was born in London, England. From 1957 to 1962, he worked as a quantity surveyor. From 1960 to 1963, he studied at the National Opera School with Joan Cross, and he also studied privately with Antony Benskin and Otakar Kraus. His professional opera debut was as Arvino in I Lombardi with Welsh National Opera in 1962, and early engagements with that company and with Sadler's Wells Opera included the principal tenor roles in The Queen of Spades, La traviata, The Magic Flute, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, La bohème and Gloriana, as well as those in The Mikado, Ruddigore, and La belle Hélène. Major debuts and premières Hillman debuted at the Netherlands Opera in 1972 as Tom Rakewell in The Rake's Progress, at Santa Fe Opera in 1974 as Fritz in La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, in 1976 as Malcolm in Macbeth, at the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 1979 as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos and with Glyndebourne Festival Opera as Count Elemer in Arabella.