All In The Family: Diana Montague & David Rendall Produce Heir

Portrait of Huw Montague Rendall
 by Walter van Dyk

Sometimes in the opera world, celestial singers come together to create some formidable offspring. Such is the case with mezzo-soprano Diana Montague and tenor David Rendall. The English couple made Brockenhurst, Hampshire, their home and produced four children: Mimi, Ed, Nell, and Huw. It is impossible to not have talent on some level when growing up in a house surrounded by music. Witness the jazzy vocals of daughter Nell by clicking here. But it can be expected with such dramatic vocalists for parents, one of the children would venture into the world of opera. Such is the particular case of Huw Montague Rendall. He attended the Ballard School in New Milton, Hampshire, where he graduated in 2010. He went on to study at Brockenhurst College where he received a BTEC National Diploma in Performing Arts. Currently living in London, he is attending the

The Montague-Rendall clan with the
matriarch: Ed, Mimi, Diana, Nell, and 
Huw (Photo: Facebook)

Royal College of Music where he is studying as a baritone and will graduate in 2016 with a Bachelor of Music degree. Thanks to YouTube, we are able to witness his budding talent. Below are videos featuring Huw singing "Questo amor, vergogna mia" from Edgar by Puccini, "Oh What a Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma by Rodgers & Hammerstein, "Ombra mai fu" from Xerxes by Händel, "Les Berceaux" by Fauré, and "Se Vuol Ballare" from Le Nozze di Figaro by Mozart:

The name Huw is of Welsh
origin and means "heart,
mind and spirit"
(Photo: Facebook)

Other than a brief work stint at Tesco, a multinational grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in the UK, Huw's only other venture outside the classical music realm has been performing with the band Shrunk In The Wash. He has been lead singer since 2004. The band plays jazz and rock, among other favorites, for various functions. You can see the band in action by clicking here and listen to an amazing rendition of "It Ain't Necessarily So" below:

(Photo: Twitter)

Best of luck to Huw Montague Rendall on his future in music and we will be sure to feature him more often when he reaches the stages of the world's leading opera houses. Be sure to visit his Facebook page and his Twitter page to keep abreast of current engagements. You can read more about Diana Montague and David Rendall after the jump. [Source]

"Diana Montague (born April 8, 1953) is a British mezzo-soprano known for her performances in opera and as a concert singer. She was born in Winchester and educated at the Testwood School, the Winchester School of Art and the Royal Northern College of Music. She made her professional debut as Zerlina in Don Giovanni with Glyndebourne Touring Opera in 1977 and went on to sing leading mezzo-soprano roles in opera houses throughout Europe and as well as in the United States. She made her Metropolitan Opera debut as Annio in La clemenza di Tito on January 22, 1987 and later appeared with the company as Sesto in La clemenza di Tito (1987), Dorabella in Così fan tutte (1988), Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro (1988), and Nicklausse in Les contes d'Hoffmann (1989).[3] Her most recent performance has been at Opera Holland Park, where she is singing the role Carmela in I gioielli della Madonna by Wolf-Ferrari. Montague is married to the British tenor, David Rendall."

"David Rendall (born October 11, 1948) is an English operatic tenor active from the 1970s to the present. Although he sang in a skiffle group while in secondary school, Rendall originally had no intention to sing opera professionally. He was 'discovered' while working at the BBC, sorting records for Desert Island Discs. A producer for the show heard him singing 'Questa o quella' from Rigoletto while working, and suggested he study professionally. Rendall entered the Royal Academy of Music in 1970, and the Salzburg Mozarteum in 1973. He won a Young Musician of the Year Award from the Greater London Arts Association in 1973 and received a Gulbenkian Fellowship in 1975. In May 1978 he sang the tenor part of Anton Bruckner's Te Deum under the baton of Herbert von Karajan during a performance at Musikverein Hall of Vienna with Vienna Philharmonic. At Covent Garden Rendall sang the roles of the Italian Singer in Der Rosenkavalier, Almaviva in The Barber of Seville, Des Grieux in Manon, Matteo in Arabella, Rodrigo in La donna del lago, Flamand in Capriccio, and the Duke in Rigoletto. After making his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1980 as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, he returned to perform Lensky in Eugene Onegin, Matteo in Arabella, and the title role of Idomeneo. He also performed with the English National Opera from 1976 to 1992, with the New York City Opera, San Francisco Opera, and many other opera companies in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, France, Italy, Georgia, Japan, Denmark, and Germany. Rendall found some controversy in 1998 when he accidentally stabbed baritone Kimm Julian in the death scene of I Pagliacci during a rehearsal with the Florentine Opera. The switchblade-style knife that the Milwaukee opera company used failed to collapse, and the baritone received a 3-inch-deep (76 mm) cut into his abdomen. Julian recovered and police cleared Rendall of any wrongdoing, though not before the local press hinted darkly about past violence in the English tenor's personal life. His career was almost ended by a backstage machinery accident in Copenhagen, in April 2005. However, it was announced in February 2013 that Rendall would finally, after several years of enforced absence from the stage, make his comeback in a concert at St John's, Smith Square in London on June 27 of that year." 
[Source, Source]