Webster, Sir David (Lumsden)

views updated

Webster, Sir David (Lumsden)

Webster, Sir David (Lumsden), Scottish opera administrator; b. Dundee, July 3, 1903; d. London, May 11, 1971. He was educated at the Univ. of Liverpool, then commenced a commercial career while pursuing his various interests in the arts. From 1940 to 1945 he was chairman of the Liverpool Phil. Soc. In 1945 he became general administrator of the Covent Garden Opera Trust, in which capacity he helped to launch the careers of many famous singers, among them Jon Vick-ers and Joan Sutherland. He was knighted in 1961 and was made a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1970. An account of his career by M. Haltrecht, under the title The Reluctant Showman, was publ. in 1975.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire