Graham Vick

Sir Graham Vick was an English opera director known for his experimental and revisionist stagings of traditional and modern operas. He worked in many of the world's leading opera houses and was artistic director of the Birmingham Opera Company.

Life and career

Vick was born on 30 December 1953 in Birkenhead, the youngest son of Arnold and Muriel Vick. He studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. At age 24, he directed a production of Gustav Holst's Savitri for the Scottish Opera and became the company's director of productions in 1984. From 1994 to 2000, Vick was director of productions at Glyndebourne Opera.
In 1987, he founded the Birmingham Opera Company and remained its artistic director. Vick's productions with Birmingham Opera included the first UK production of Othello to feature a black tenor in the title role in 2009, and the 2012 world premiere of Karlheinz Stockhausen's notoriously difficult Mittwoch aus Licht.
Vick died from complications arising from COVID-19 on 17 July 2021, aged 67.

Honours and awards

In 2005, the National Portrait Gallery, London acquired a portrait of Vick by the photographer Lorentz Gullachsen. Vick was awarded as Knight of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, as Honorary Professor of Music at the University of Birmingham, and as International Chair of Opera at the Royal Northern College of Music. He was also awarded Honorary Membership of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 2016. Vick was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2009 Birthday Honours and knighted in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to music and the regions.

Recordings

Many of Vick's productions can be seen on DVD including Lulu Warner Music Vision B000189L10, and Falstaff Opus Arte B00005NUP8.