William Harrison (singer)

After working for Alfred Bunn at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, Harrison set up a company in partnership with the soprano Louisa Pyne, which enjoyed success in North America and London in the 1850s.

[1] He appeared in public as an amateur tenor in 1836 and in October of that year he became a student at the Royal Academy of Music, then headed by Cipriani Potter.

[2] The librettist and impresario Alfred Bunn recruited him for his opera seasons at Drury Lane in the 1840s, during which Harrison created tenor leads in Balfe's The Bohemian Girl (1843), Wallace's Maritana (1845) and other new works.

Returning to England in 1857 they staged similar repertory in London for the next seven seasons, premiering fifteen new British operas.

[1][2] By the 1860s Harrison's voice was in decline, and composers such as Julius Benedict in The Lily of Killarney (1862) wrote less demanding roles for him.