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| The Life of Lord Harewood |
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George Henry Hubert Lascelles was born in London on 07 Feb 1923, the son of Henry, Viscount Lascelles & Princess Mary, only daughter of King George V & Queen Mary. He was a first cousin to Queen Elizabeth II.
As a boy he attended Eton where he discovered the pleasures of music. Although he studied piano, he described himself as the world’s worst pianist and began gathering an extraordinary collection of recorded music which was where he discovered the operatic voice. At the outbreak of War in 1939 he attended Sandhurst and after training was commissioned in the Grenadier Guards. He was fighting in Italy when he was wounded aged 21 years in 1944 and taken prisoner. His captors soon discovered he was the nephew of King George VI and he spent the remainder of the war at Colditz. To pass the hours he started reading the monumental Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians and prior to his release had managed to reach the letter “S” in the eighteenth of twenty volumes. After returning to civilian life time was spent at King’s College Cambridge as a post-war undergraduate. It was at this time that Benjamin Britten invited Lord Harewood to become involved with the Aldeburgh Festival. There were no publications at that time dedicated to the art form so he founded OPERA which is still being printed today. He was invited to update Kobbe’s Guide to the Opera which he continued to do for decades. Covent Garden called in the early 1950’s and he met Maria Callas who became a close friend. Lord Harewood conducted one of the first “in depth” series of interviews with the Diva for television which are still available. It was at this time that he also met Joan Sutherland & Richard Bonynge, who were to remain lifelong friends. He was appointed Director of the Edinburgh Festival in 1960 which proved a very successful venture. Another feather in his cap came in 1962 when he was asked to be President of Leeds United Football Club and he showed it the same enthusiasm he gave to music. An invitation to be Managing Director of The English National Opera which had just moved to the Coliseum was accepted. The time spent with ENO is generally regarded as “the jewel in the crown” when one looks at Lord Harewood’s career. His connection with the company lasted until 1995 when he stood down as President of the Board. In Australia Lord Harewood presented the Adelaide Festival in the 1988 Bicentennial Year and was a Board Member of The Australian Opera. In recent years Lord Harewood accepted an invitation to become a Patron of the Joan Sutherland Society of Sydney and the Society is grateful that he & Lady Harewood (formerly Australian violinist Patricia Tuckwell) attended a Concert at Burwood on what turned out to be their last visit to Australia. He is survived by Lady Harewood, four sons and a stepson. DOUG CREMER |
Joan Sutherland SocietyPhone: +(612) 9789 1910admin@joansutherlandsociety.com Postal Details PO Box 880 Leichhardt NSW 2040 Sydney Australia |
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