TOM LINGWOOD

Tom Lingwood (1927-2001) should surely be remembered as one of the most versatile and skilled costume and set designers of his generation and the most important artistic influences in Australia's operatic life in the period 1970-1990. During his long, worldwide career, Lingwood designed the sets and costumes for scores of operas, plays,musicals and ballets. (designs database)

England
Tom Lingwood was born in Guildford, Surrey. He went to school, and later Art school in Guildford where he began to study design. After Art school, he joined Sadlers Wells as an unpaid scene painter and fed himself by working as an actor. At 22 he began designing for the Mercury Theatre and the London Festival Ballet and in 1954 established an international reputation with his designs for "Palisades" for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, in London "Symphony for Fun" for London Festival Ballet, "Movimentos" for Ballet Rambert, "Lilac Garden" for the Royal Ballet and also at the , for Ballet de Lage Landen in Holland.In the following years his work was seen in Montreal "Giselle" and "Graduation Ball" for the Royal Swedish Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Paris Opera Ballet, Ballet de Geneve and the Royal Danish Ballet. By the time he came to Australia in 1970, he was an established figure of the English theatre scene with a string of West End successes to his name. In the musical field he provided splendid sets and costumes for Julian Slade's "Vanity Fair". Until then he had designed only one opera, "Manon Lescaut" for the Royal Opera Covent Garden in London.

Australia
Tom Lingwood became an artistic director of the Australian Opera (later Opera Australia) In 1970 he created two highly successful productions for the Australian Opera. In an enchanting La Bohème, Lingwood's pictorial, storybook sets provided a perfect setting for Puccini's opera of adolescent love and tragedy. Simultaneously he designed dramatic and spectacular sets for Verdi's Forza del Destino. In 1973 He designed the Opera "War and peace for the opening of the Sydney Opera House. For the Australian Ballet he then designed a spectacular new Swan Lake, directed by Anne Woolliams a production that is being replaced only this year after serving well for 25 years. He followed that up in 1993 with two Balanchine works, Night Shadows and Symphony in C. He also designed a stunning Sound of Music for the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust that starred Julie Anthony and toured nationally. Lingwood broke new ground by designing a series of stunning sets for my production of Aida in the Concert Hall of the Opera House. The way Tom's designs managed to turn the Concert Hall into the most effective of opera venues marked the pinnacle of his design career. Later the same year, he directed and designed a new production of Carmen for the West Australian Opera and a new production of Salome for the Concert Hall of the Opera House. He also designed for the Australian Opera a new Fanciulla del West and William Walton and Paul Dehn's The Bear, his final work for the company. In his last 10 years in Australia, Lingwood lectured in design at NIDA where he again encouraged new talent and became expert in computer design. In 1997, he decided to return to Europe. Tom and his partner of nearly 50 years, Frans van Norde*, sold their Paddington terrace in Sydney and bought an apartment in Haarlem, Holland.
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1973 War and Peace

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