184:. He was promoted to assistant general administrator in 1960, and served in that post until Webster's retirement in 1970. In the late 1960s, Webster's health became uncertain, and much of the day-to-day business of running the opera house fell to Tooley. He was appointed to succeed Webster, and held the post of general administrator until 1980, when it was renamed general director. He retired from the post in 1988.
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wrote of Tooley's important role in coordinating the workings of the major
European and American opera houses. He promoted regular meetings of the heads of these houses, with the aim of resisting excessive fees for star singers and also of sharing costs by staging co-productions. To attract a new and
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younger audience to the Royal Opera House, Tooley set up a series of "promenade" performances of operas, with low-priced admission to the stalls area, from which the seats were temporarily removed.
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Tooley held a large number of other appointments in the musical world, serving as a trustee or board member of the
102:(1 June 1924 – 18 March 2020) was an English musical administrator who served as the general director of the
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said of it, "His regime is now regarded as a golden era when the opera house could still attract stars such as
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2011, A & C Black, 2011; online edition, Oxford
University Press, December 2010, accessed 27 August 2011
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In 1955 the Royal Opera House underwent an internal reorganisation. The deputy general administrator,
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Tooley died on 18 March 2020, aged 95. His family indicated the funeral would be private.
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He married, and divorced, three times: from 1951 to 1965 he was married to Judith Craig (
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496:(London), 23 July 2012 on theguardian.com. Retrieved 11 August 2014
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The Quiet
Showman: Sir David Webster and the Royal Opera House
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After serving for 15 years as assistant and later deputy to
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Zeffirelli, Franco; John Tooley (Interviews by Anna Tims),
280:, announcements.telegraph.co.uk; accessed 20 March 2020.
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In House: Covent Garden, 50 Years of Opera and Ballet
430:(London), June 2014, Vol. 65, No. 6, pp. 693–698
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Morris); from 1968 to 1990 to
Patricia Janet Norah (
486:"How we made: Franco Zeffirelli and John Tooley on
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Bagshawe); and from 1995 to 2003 to
Jennifer-Anne (
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450:The New Grove Dictionary of Opera
424:Allison, John, "Ninety Not Out",
335:(London), 24 November 1980, p. 16
530:People educated at Repton School
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143:Magdalene College, Cambridge
84:Magdalene College, Cambridge
331:"The Knight at the Opera",
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380:"Birthdays – The Register"
32:John Tooley (weightlifter)
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437:. London: Collins, 1975.
317:Rosenthal, Vol. 4, p. 759
359:(subscription required)
307:(subscription required)
75:18 March 2020 (aged 95)
550:Rifle Brigade officers
520:British opera managers
187:The opera commentator
433:Haltrecht, Montague.
217:1979 Birthday Honours
211:among others. He was
121:, the founder of the
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209:Welsh National Opera
349:Rosenthal, Harold.
133:Tooley was born in
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351:"Tooley, Sir John"
299:"Tooley, Sir John"
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159:Ford Motor Company
540:Royal Opera House
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57:1 June 1924
48:John Tooley
504:Categories
419:References
90:Occupation
384:The Times
333:The Times
303:Who's Who
241:The Times
135:Rochester
407:21 March
238:(1999);
236:In House
213:knighted
207:and the
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490:(1964)"
215:in the
201:Britten
149:in the
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263:Notes
476:ISBN
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