James Lockhart – An appreciation
Scottish conductor James Lockhart (1930-2025) was born in Edinburgh and went to the University there before finishing his studies at the RCM in London. His apprenticeship in conducting started at the Yorkshire SO in 1954, which at the time was conducted mostly by Maurice Miles and Norman Del Mar. In that year, however, the great Nikolai Malko was appointed as Principal Conductor in Leeds – but those halcyon days were not destined to last long, as the orchestra disbanded at the end of the 1954/55 season and Lockhart went to Münster in North-West Germany to work as a repetiteur – the well-trodden path of many a great orchestral practitioner.
It was here, perhaps, that his skills, working with singers from the piano, were finely honed. He went next to Munich and spent a couple of summers at Glyndebourne (although I don’t think he ever conducted there). From 1959 he found employment back in Britain working at Covent Garden, Sadler’s Wells and in Scotland.
From the 1960/61 season, James Lockhart began conducting opera at Sadler’s Wells and on their touring schedule. I found a review from November 1960 where he led The Marriage of Figaro with a cast including Marion Studholme, Elsie Morison, Patricia Kern, Gwyn Griffiths and John Lawrenson. The following season he was given Rigoletto with Elizabeth Harwood, Donald Smith and Peter Glossop. HMV recorded highlights of this production, as they did the next one, too. In March 1962, Lockhart presided over the new production of that old Wells’ favourite The Bartered Bride. He had Ava June as Marenka and the record issued the following year is a lovely souvenir.
In the Summer of 1962, Lockhart took part in the very first week of performances by Scottish Opera in Glasgow. The great Alexander Gibson led most of the performances, but I think Lockhart stepped in for an evening Madama Butterfly after Gibson had spent the afternoon conducting Pelléas et Mélisande.
Solti had arrived at Covent Garden for the start of the 1961/62 season. I found some listings suggesting Lockhart conducted Covent Garden stagings on tour in the early sixties, but it was not until 1965 that he conducted at the house itself. In June of that year, he led La bohème. Freni was announced but I have also seen reviews which suggests Joan Carlyle sang Mimi. As Rodolfo that run had André Turp, Juan Oncina and Alain Vanzo. Those were the days! Lockhart was back in the pit at the Royal Opera House for Simon Boccanegra in December 1965 and later that season led more Bohèmes.
In the Summer of 1967, he gave the world premiere of Walton’s one act opera The Bear at Aldeburgh. He took this to Sadler’s Wells, into the studio for HMV (the recording was made at Abbey Road with Walton himself present) and even to Canada for Montreal’s Expo 67. Doubled up with The Bear was Handel’s Acis and Galatea. Here, the singers were Margaret Price and Robert Tear.
Lockhart’s relationship with Margaret Price was magical and perhaps now is the time to look back on it. Margaret Price debuted for Welsh National Opera in 1962. She understudied Cherubino at Covent Garden for Teresa Berganza and one night in 1963 got her chance to go on. She was a big hit, but it was James Lockhart who convinced her to move up to soprano roles. They first made a record for a small Welsh company in 1969. It is an adorable disc (re-issued in the mid-1970s on L’Oiseau-Lyre and now on Eloquence). Classics for Pleasure made a follow-up Schubert disc and a Schumann record. For RCA, Price and Lockhart covered Mozart memorably and when both artists were mainly working in Germany, they met up frequently in Orfeo’s studios to make several more records in the 1980s. In all these cherished discs, Lockhart is a sensitive and attuned accompanist. Margaret Price’s voice is of course legendary.
In 1968, another chapter opened in the career of James Lockhart. He became Music Director of Welsh National Opera. At the time Silvestri’s Bournemouth SO were in the pit for most performances but by the end of Lockhart’s tenure they had their own players. Lockhart’s first new production was Boris Godunov (no Polish act though, unfortunately). Forbes Robinson took the lead. He also, early on gave The Barber of Seville and presented a young Thomas Allen in his first leading role. Welsh opera lovers were treated to Nabucco and Macbeth too, usually with Pauline Tinsley as the lead soprano.
The next season led with a new Falstaff based around Geraint Evans with a superb cast which included Elizabeth Vaughan, Helen Watts and Margaret Price. I would love to have heard that one. Aida and Simon Boccanegra, both featuring Josephine Barstow, along with Otello with Alberto Remedios, are other mouthwatering highlights of his time with WNO.
In 1972, Lockhart returned to Germany to become Generalmusikdirektor in Kassel. He was the first British conductor to become a GMD in Germany and at the time Kassel was in the big league. During his time there, the orchestra celebrated the 475th anniversary of its founding; previous GMDs there had included Christoph von Dohnányi, Karl Elmendorff and Robert Heger. Whilst at Kassel, Lockhart conducted plenty of Strauss and Wagner (including The Ring). He introduced several Britten works and G&S too! He gave a Janáček cycle and closed in June 1980 with Wozzeck. As well as all this opera he must have conducted many symphony concerts, too; I understand he performed a few Mahler symphonies, but I haven’t been able to confirm details.
His activity in the concert hall is the area I know least about. In 1977 EMI’s budget label Classics for Pleasure released two discs which I have. Romantic Overtures and a Mendelssohn record of the Italian symphony and the Midsummer Night’s Dream overture and three usual pieces. How much did he appear with the LPO though (the orchestra on these discs) or other London bands? He is not listed on the archive of the Hallé Orchestra but did he give concerts in Wales or Scotland? In the late 1980s during his time in Koblenz, the Cybelia label of France recorded him in some unusual repertory: Schmitt, Cras and Le Flem. He also made a late LP of Hindemith’s Cello Concerto (with Angelica May) coupled with Carl Jenner’s Serenade for Orchestra. Even later, Marco Polo made a record of the Maurice Emmanuel symphonies and a disc devoted to Alfred Bruneau.
As far as I can see, Lockhart’s final appearance on disc was with the RPO for the Tring label. These budget records are almost always pure gold sonically and the two James Lockhart made are no exception. On the Beethoven CD, he conducts fresh and alive performances of symphonies 2 and 8. On the accompanying Mozart record, he can be heard in symphonies 36 and 39 (with repeats included). He made them in August 1994, presumably very quickly with little time for multiple takes. I have cherished these performances (and many others from the label) for years and recommend them if you can find them.
After finishing off in Kassel, where he was replaced by Woldemar Nelsson, Lockhart went to the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz. He also conducted more opera back in Britain. At the ENO, he led performances of La bohème, Ariadne auf Naxos, Fidelio and Tosca, the last two featuring soprano Linda Esther Gray. In 1984 he was put in charge of the revival of ENOs great War and Peace, first given in 1972 under David Lloyd-Jones. In the huge cast he had Eilene Hannan and Russel Smythe as Natasha and Andrei. Lockhart conducted this work at the Met in New York, during the ENOs trip there the same year. The last record I can find of him conducting at the ENO was in 1986 in an Il trovatore that included Jane Eaglen in the cast. A few hundred yards away at Covent Garden he conducted Boris Godunov in November 1985 with Nicola Ghiuselev.
James Lockhart left Koblenz after ten years in 1991. I would love to know more about what music he was involved with during that period in Germany. At this latter end to his career, he also became involved in teaching. He had posts back at the RCM in London and other roles in vocal coaching.
Perhaps he will be remembered most for his part in those lovely records with Margaret Price, but I hope I have shown in my appreciation that James Lockhart was a superb all-round musician, with a real love of and experience in opera. I never saw him live and apart from owning some of his commercial records I only have one example of him conducting live in the opera house (Simon Boccanegra for WNO went out live on the BBC in 1970). Maybe if any reader has any personal memories of him, they might share them on the message board.
Philip Harrison
