David Webster (opera manager)

Sir David Lumsden Webster KCVO FRCM (3 July 1903 – 9 May 1971) was the chief executive of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, from 1945 to 1970.

[1] In his spare time Webster engaged in amateur theatricals, becoming a leading figure in an influential Liverpool group, the Sandon Society.

Recognising that his looks and stature were not those of a potential star Webster resisted the temptation to pursue a professional theatrical career, but through the Sandon Society met many leading figures in the theatre, ballet and music.

[4] The new chairman of Covent Garden, the economist John Maynard Keynes, agreed with Leslie Boosey and Ralph Hawkes that a permanent ensemble was needed, and that it had to be run by a businessman.

[4] His selection was driven by two key facts: firstly, he was successful as a retailer with a well-developed sense of what his customers wanted and how he could give it to them; secondly, he had demonstrated his strength in arts administration.

He appointed as musical director an efficient but less known conductor, Karl Rankl, a pupil of Schoenberg and Webern, who trained a new chorus and orchestra.

[6] The Royal Opera House was re-opened under Webster's direction on 20 February 1946 with a production of The Sleeping Beauty designed by Oliver Messel.

He reluctantly recognised that international singers could not be asked to relearn their roles in English, and that opera at the highest level must therefore be sung in the original language.

However, with twenty years' experience in European opera houses, Rankl's strengths in training the chorus and orchestra could be put to good use.

The appointment of Georg Solti as musical director in 1961 may be taken to mark the beginning of the opera company's rise to international status.

It was he who carefully nurtured the talents of Sir Geraint Evans, Josephine Veasey, Gwyneth Jones, Peter Glossop and many others.