My husband, Michael Harper, who has died aged 61 after health problems including sarcoidosis and a collapsed lung, was an accomplished countertenor with an exceptionally beautiful voice. After a stage career in Europe and Asia, in 2019 he became professor of singing at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) in Manchester.
Michael was born in Petersburg, Virginia, the son of Ruth (nee Williams) and Robert Harper, who separated when he was a child. Michael was brought up by his mother, a hospital care assistant, and he studied at Virginia Commonwealth University before completing postgraduate and doctoral studies at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
In 1994 he moved to Britain, partly motivated by its reputation for a varied music scene, and studied at the Mayer-Lismann Opera Centre. It was a perfect destination for a young countertenor to grow and hone his craft, and his roles went on to include the Waiter in The Waiter’s Revenge (Jigsaw Music Theatre, London, 1998); Flavio in Handel’s opera of the same name for Neue Opernbühne Berlin (2001); and the Angel in Jonathan Dove’s Tobias and the Angel with Highbury Opera Theatre at the Union Chapel, London, in 2012.
Michael became involved in many other areas of the music world, working extensively as a vocal coach and teacher. He served as a trustee for the Buxton International festival, was a patron of the National Opera Studio’s Diverse Voices programme to widen participation in opera, and featured in the 2022 Sky Arts television series Anyone Can Sing.
Michael lent his talent and intellect to organisations including British Youth Opera, Den Norske Opera in Norway, the Pegasus Opera Company, English National Opera, the Royal Opera Studio and the WaterAid charity. As a teacher, he mentored and inspired students of all ages with an exacting and detailed approach coupled with great kindness.
He was dedicated to promoting diversity in opera performance, and created the Williams-Howard prize in 2021 to promote the study and performance of arts songs by African-heritage composers. The prize – named after his grandfather, Chester Ambrose Williams, and his teacher, Helen Palmer Howard – was the culmination of his life’s work. He worked to establish a repository of these songs in the RNCM library and fundraised to support the prize in perpetuity.
Michael managed to retain the courtesy and bearing of an American southern gentleman, while becoming entirely and proudly British, combining a fierce intellect and erudition, strongly expressed political opinions and a great sense of fun. Above all he had an extraordinary ability to make connections with people in all parts of his life. People who met Michael found out quickly that he took a genuine and enduring interest in them and had a remarkable capacity to create friendships wherever he went.
His happiest times were spent gardening, cooking and spending time at our home in Brittany.
He is survived by me, his life partner since 1996 (we married in 2007), two brothers, Larry and Pierre, and a sister, Felicia.
