Fanfare Contributor Bio
Ralph Moore
I am a retired English teacher who was a head of department and previously worked in educational publishing. I have had a passion for opera since I was 18 and had a brief flirtation with vocal training in New York in the early 80s. I am reasonably knowledgeable about the history of recorded opera and the workings of the voice but I love instrumental and choral music, too, and have a special attachment to late 19th- and early 20th-century Romantic composers such as Wagner and Richard Strauss. I review regularly for MusicWeb, Fanfare and The Bruckner Journal. I am an amateur graphologist, calligrapher, Francophone/phile, and generally interested in languages. I enjoy cooking, fine art, and literature. I give talks on literary and artistic topics, especially Shakespeare and the novel. I have travelled a good deal and spent some years living in southern Africa and the U.S., where I met my wife; we have two adult sons. I feel at home when I am in the U.S. but am grateful for what the UK has to offer culturally and socially, particularly with regard to the symphony orchestras and theater companies in London.