BIOGRAPHY
Laurence Panter is a British tenor, pianist, musical director and composer. He studied at Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, where he was awarded both an academic scholarship and a choral exhibition. He later graduated with distinction from Trinity Laban Conservatoire, where he was recipient of the Kathleen Roberts Vocal Scholarship.
As a tenor he has worked with companies such as Longborough Festival Opera (eight productions recently including Mosquito/Cunning Little Vixen, cover Victorin & Albert/Die Tote Stadt, chorus/Götterdämmerung) Opera Northern Ireland (chorus/Don Giovanni), Kings Head Theatre (Ferrando/Così fan Tutte), L'Offerta Musicale di Venezia (Acis/Acis & Galatea), Opera Anywhere (Ralph/HMS Pinafore), and Barefoot Opera (Nemorino/L’Elisir d’Amore, Rodolfo/La Bohème, Remendado/Carmen).
He created the role of Captain in the premiere of Stephen McNeff’s opera Banished with Trinity Laban Opera in 2016. In 2019/20 he created the part of Mervyn in Orlando Gough's Bloom Britannia, joined Merry Opera for a touring production of Pirates of Penzance and Rogue Opera for a tour of Carmen.
As musical director, Laurence directed and played for Rossini's La Cenerentola for Barefoot Opera, which tours again Summer 2023. He also joined Merry Opera for their 2020 UK tour of Don Giovanni, leading a small ensemble from the keyboard. Previously, Laurence has M.D.'ed for Opera in the Meantime (Hansel & Gretel) and Grassroots Opera (Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice). He is due to join Gothic Opera as pianist and assistant conductor for their postponed production of Gounod's La Nonne Sanglante, and is currently acting as M.D. for Over the Pond's 'Connections' project.
As a pianist, he gained his ABRSM performance diploma in 2009 and has accompanied singers for exams, recordings, recitals and competitions. He has accompanied operatic productions such as Puccini's Suor Angelica (Opera in the Meantime), and Bernstein's Trouble in Tahiti (Stage Left Project 2018) providing “impressive support” (Hastings Independent Press). He has also worked as a repetiteur for City Lit Opera School (scenes) and Gothic Opera (Marschner's Der Vampyr).
In 2019, he premiered his first operatic composition, 'The Cruel Sister', for the Tête-à-tête festival and is working on two new commissions as a result. He has also written choral arrangements, a song cycle, various stand-alone songs and a set of Prokofiev themes arranged for jazz-reggae ensemble.
