Peter Brathwaite
Author and Presenter @BBC
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WORK HISTORY
Author and Presenter @BBC
London, GB
Opera singer Peter Brathwaite is fascinated with his Barbadian heritage and ancestry. It\'s a complicated story; he\'s descended from both black enslaved people and their enslaving white plantation owners. In this programme Peter travels to Barbados to discover the music made by enslaved people - the cultural glue that bound them to Africa - and the attempts made by the British enslavers to deny, deride or override this music. From plantation dances to Christian hymns and the discovery of some remarkable pro-enslavement propaganda songs, Peter talks to Barbadian historians and musicians to build up a picture of what the enslaved people\'s musical lives might have been.Visiting significant sites on the island, catching up with relatives, and drawing on his own significant research, Peter also uncovers the story of his great, great, great, great grandparents Addo and Margaret, both of whom began their lives in Barbados enslaved but who were eventually freed by the white Brathwaites who \'owned\' them. Their lives offer a window into the layered social hierarchies that developed on the island in the early years of the 19th century, as the rising abolitionist movement in Britain gave birth to a new chapter in Barbados\'s complicated history.Recorded on location on the beautiful island of Barbados, this programme examines the cultural and social legacy of enslavement, which continues to shape the nation of Barbados, and the identity of its people, today.
EDUCATION
Royal College of Music
Master's degree in Vocal Performance, Voice and Opera
Royal College of Music
Artist Diploma in Opera, Royal College of Music International Opera School
Truro Cathedral
Gap Year Choral Scholar
Operastudio Vlaanderen
Laureate van Operastudio Vlaanderen, Voice and Opera
Newcastle University
BA (Hons), Philosophy and Fine Art
SKILLS
ABOUT PETER BRATHWAITE
Reviews of Peter’s recent performance of Hannah Kendall’s The Knife of Dawn at the Royal Opera House. “No praise could be too high for baritone Peter Brathwaite, who takes the central role and gives a heroic performance. With perfect diction and a fine sense of timing, he manages to invest his part with pulsating believability.” The Independent, October 2020“Directed by Ola Ince, Peter Brathwaite gave a forceful, passionate performance” Wall Street Journal, November 2020“Brathwaite’s tireless performance was a tour de force” Opera Magazine, December 2020“Carter, sung and acted with uncompromising intensity by Peter Brathwaite… Brathwaite handles Kendall’s austere vocal lines deftly and clearly, giving a disturbing sincerity to Carter’s increasingly lurid fears.” The Spectator, October 2020“Singing with warmth and verbal clarity, the baritone Peter Brathwaite characterised Carter as the epitome of a freedom-fighting intellectual.” The Telegraph, October 2020“Peter Brathwaite delivers a tour de force in The Knife of Dawn. In a tireless one-hour long monologue, weaving together Carter’s poetry, political ideals and personal hopes, Brathwaite creates a charismatic portrayal of a true hero in extremis. His delivery is so clear that you don’t notice the lack of subtitles.” Bachtrack, October 2020“A fine performance by baritone Peter Brathwaite” The Guardian, October 2020“Peter Brathwaite makes a totally credible Carter in a role that demands mainly Sprechstimme from him and there was a powerful sense of conviction to all he sang/spoke during his monologue. Who could not fail to be moved by the emotional intensity Brathwaite brings…” Seen and Heard International, October 2020
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