Rare talent in Australian opera

OPERA SINGER

5-7-1940 8-4-2011

PERHAPS the most gifted singer in the bass register that Australian opera has ever produced, Donald Shanks had a voice of astonishing richness and depth. Combined with his imposing stage presence he stood more than two metres tall this rare vocal quality meant he was born to play opera's kings and high priests.

Shanks, who died of a heart attack at his home at Frenchs Forest, a northern Sydney suburb, also enjoyed interpreting lighter, even comic, characters, resulting in a remarkable repertoire of more than 70 roles, from Gilbert and Sullivan to Wagner.

Moffatt Oxenbould, the former artistic director of Opera Australia, said Shanks "has an immensely important place in the history of opera in this country", and was "a pioneer and great ornament".

Born to Douglas and Mavis Shanks, he and siblings Janice, Lyndal and Douglas jnr grew up in Brisbane. The family were devout Methodists, and it was through his church choir that the young Shanks's lifelong love of singing began.

After graduating from Brisbane State High School, he worked as a clerk at British Petroleum for five years, while also studying accounting by correspondence. In his spare time, he performed with the Savoyards, a newly formed musical theatre group specialising in Gilbert and Sullivan, and as an opera-chorus extra.

The year he turned 24 was among the most significant of his life. On May 23, 1964, he married Pamela Moffatt, whom he had got to know via piano lessons she was a student before him and his church. They had two sons, Murray and Jonathan, both of whom became Baptist ministers.

Also that year he joined the Sydney-based Elizabethan Theatre Trust Opera Company (later called the Australian Opera, then Opera Australia), making his debut in The Mikado. It was in this operetta that he also took his final bow with the company about 40 years later, in 2004.

Blessed with a remarkably mature voice and stage presence, Shanks was soon performing major dramatic roles including Wagner at just 27 and in 1965 sang opposite Joan Sutherland and Luciano Pavarotti during the seminal Sutherland Williamson Grand Opera Company national tour.

He made his debut at London's Covent Garden in 1974 and the Paris Opera two years later, and a career based in Europe beckoned.

"He was a staggering talent, and could have made a significant career anywhere in the world," Opera Australia's chief executive, Adrian Collette, said. His earliest memory of Shanks was of him outshining acclaimed American baritone Sherrill Milnes on stage in the 1980s. "Voices like that don't come along very often, and fortunately for us he was very much someone who wanted to make his home in Australia."

This was partly due to Shanks's dedication to the company's development, but mainly because he could never return soon enough to his "haven" his Sydney home, with its family life, boating and fishing.

He may have played kings and high priests, but off-stage Shanks was a devoted family man whom many regarded as a gentle giant. Like a number of great artists, he was reserved in private life, but the moment he was on stage he grew larger than life. "They need the proscenium to take that step," Collete said.

According to friend, colleague and Opera Australia board member Anson Austin, Shanks was "generous and open-hearted" but also had a "wonderful sense of fun" and "mischievous streak".

Shanks ventured overseas again to perform with the Canadian Opera from 1983 to '86, and appeared regularly with Opera Queensland and the Victorian State Opera. Among his most memorable performances were in the title role of Boris Godunov, as Zaccaria in Nabucco, Der Rosenkavalier's Baron Ochs, and Wagner's great bass roles. Sadly, by the early 2000s, his remarkable voice had noticeably declined, "a tragic vibrato splitting his noble bass", as Age critic John Slavin wrote.

For services to music he was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1976 and of the Order of Australia in 1987.

For much of his adult life Shanks mentored young singers, adjudicated at vocal competitions, organised and performed in charity concerts, and sang at retirement and nursing facilities. A proud Australian, he also volunteered as an Australia Day ambassador.

Still singing publicly as late as September last year for a Brisbane Festival outdoor performance of The Marriage of Figaro, Shanks appeared to be in good health.

He is survived by his wife and sons, and eight grandchildren.