Thomas Hemsley

Thomas Jeffrey Hemsley, CBE, born 12 April 1927 in Coalville, Leicestershire, was a British baritone who studied at Oxford and later with Lucie Manén in London. He made his operatic debut in 1951 at the Mermaid Theatre as Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, partnering with Kirsten Flagstad. Hemsley’s career progressed through engagements at Aachen, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Zürich, and the Bayreuth Festival, where he sang Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (1968–1970). His discography includes Savitri and Choral Hymns (1966), Dido and Aeneas (1969), and Liederkreis, Op. 39 (1994). Hemsley passed away on 11 April 2013 in London.