Charles Brett

Countertenor Charles Brett was a major specialist in Baroque choral and oratorio repertory in the later 20th century. He founded the Amaryllis Consort and The Three Counter-tenors, and he was also a conductor and teacher. Brett had a substantial recording catalog that included several operatic releases. He saw many of his performances reissued, as on the album John Eliot Gardiner: The Blossoming Conductor (2025). Brett was born in Maidenhead, England, on October 27, 1941. He attended the Winchester College boarding school and then King's College, Cambridge, as a choral scholar and music major. His principal teachers were Julian Smith and John Whitworth. He made his debut in London in 1965 in Bach's Magnificat, BWV 243, but at the time, countertenor singing was still something of a novelty, and he held school teaching and choral-direction jobs for some years, as Assistant Music Master at Eton College (1963-1968) and Director of Music at Malvern College (1968-1976) and Westminster School (1976-1983). His recording debut came in 1964 with the choir of St. John's College, Cambridge, under director George Guest, and he went to appear in some of the classic early music albums of the LP era, including Music of the Crusades by the Early Music Consort of London and director David Munrow in 1971. An early CD release, and one of the many Brett made with conductor John Eliot Gardiner, was Messiah: Highlights in 1984. In 1983, Brett founded the Amaryllis Consort and toured Britain, Western Europe, and Latin America with that group. As a soloist, he was highly visible at the Proms and at many of the continental European summer festivals. He was often heard in Handel's music. Brett sang opera, making his debut in 1984 in Graz, Austria, in J.J. Fux's Angeliz vincitrice di Alcina and touring France under conductor Jean-Claude Malgoire in Gluck's La clemenza di Tito. He occasionally sang music not from the Baroque or Renaissance, including the part of Oberon in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream. With James Bowman and Michael Chance, he formed the group The Three Counter-tenors in emulation of the successful Three Tenors. Brett continued recording well into the 21st century, releasing the album Bach: Magnificat; 4 Motets in 2013 with Gardiner and the Monteverdi Choir; he also made several recordings under conductor Philippe Herreweghe. He made more than 60 albums in all, and many of his earlier LP releases have been reissued. Brett continued teaching even after his performing and recording career became self-sustaining; he served on the faculties of the Royal Academy of Music from 1988 to 2003 and at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, from 1989 to 2014. Many of the next generation of English countertenors were touched by his teaching. Brett died on June 24, 2025. ~ James Manheim, Rovi