THE D'OYLY CARTE OPERA COMPANY

W. A. Peterkin as Captain Corcoran in Utopia Limited

W. A. Peterkin (1894-95)

[Born Edinburgh 2 Jan 1858, died Flackwell Heath, Buckinghamshire 22 Mar 1945]

William A. Peterkin appeared as Captain Corcoran with D'Oyly Carte's American Utopia Limited Company in New York and Boston from March until June 1894. He and several others from that Company then helped form D'Oyly Carte Opera Company "A" in July for a tour of Utopia in England and Scotland. Peterkin was promoted to Mr. Goldbury for the tour, replacing John Coates who had played the part in America but had himself been promoted to the main Company at the Savoy.

When Company "A" disbanded in December 1894, Peterkin also went to the Savoy. There he understudied R. Scott Fishe in the part of Ferdinand de Roxas in Burnand & Sullivan's The Chieftain (December 1894-March 1895), deputizing in the role on at least one occasion. It was his only role in London and his last appearance with the D'Oyly Carte organization.

Peterkin appears to have focused on the concert stage thereafter. A student of Henry Wood's, he sang two songs at the first Promenade Concert in London, August 10, 1895, performed in Sullivan's The Martyr of Antioch with the Nottingham Sacred Harmonic Society in 1899, and sang selections from several Sullivan works in an evening of Sullivan music at the 1901 Proms. In 1903 he traveled to Australia where he enjoyed some success as a concert artist with the occasional return to musical theatre.

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