caption death_date death_place birth_name birth_place imagesize birth_date image article_title name partner occupation
pears wingrave '' , 1971 as general wingrave in britten 's '' owen 3 april 1986 red house , aldeburgh , suffolk , england peter neville luard pears farnham , surrey , england 250px 22 june 1910 peter pears publicity photo 1971 crop.png peter pears
 sir peter pears benjamin death -rrb- britten -lrb- 1939 -- 1976 ; britten 's singer
peter pears

sir peter neville luard pears cbe -lrb- ; 22 june 19103 april 1986 -rrb- was an english tenor .
his career was closely associated with the composer benjamin britten , his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years .
pears 's musical career started slowly .
he was at first unsure whether to concentrate on playing or singing , and despite the efforts of some of his friends , it was not until he met britten in 1937 that he threw himself wholeheartedly into singing .
once he and britten were established as a partnership , the composer wrote many concert and operatic works with pears 's voice in mind , and the singer created roles in more than ten operas by his partner .
in the concert hall , pears and britten were celebrated recitalists , known in particular for their performances of lieder by schubert and schumann .
together they recorded most of the works written for pears by britten , as well as a wide range of music by other composers .
working with other musicians , pears sang an extensive repertoire of music from four centuries , from the tudor period to the most modern times .
with britten , pears was a co-founder of the aldeburgh festival in 1947 and the britten-pears school in 1972 .
after britten died in 1976 , pears remained an active participant in the festival and the school , where he was director of singing .
his own voice had a distinctive timbre , not to all tastes , but such was his musical skill that he could use the voice to good effect in many styles of music .
