Moran Caplat

Moran Victor Hingston Caplat, CBE (1 October 1916 - 19 June 2003) was an English opera manager, associated throughout his career with Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

Life and career Early years Caplat was born in Herne Bay, Kent, the only child of Armand Charles Victor Roger Caplat, a French-born architect, and his wife, Norah Bessie, née Hingston. He was educated locally. When he was fifteen he saw a touring production of Twelfth Night by the Ben Greet company which made him stage-struck, and in 1933 he was accepted as a student at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, London. Their daughter Simone married the historian David Sekers, son of the industrialist Nicholas Sekers.

After Caplat was released from the navy in 1945 a relative put him in touch with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, which was resuming productions after a wartime gap. The company needed an assistant to its manager, Rudolf Bing. The latter was impressed with Caplat, as were the proprietors of the company, John and Audrey Christie, and he took up post at Glyndebourne in October 1945.

Caplat arranged overseas performances of Glyndebourne productions: La Cenerentola in Berlin (1954), Falstaff and Le Comte Ory in Paris (1958); Don Giovanni and Il matrimonio segreto in Sweden, Norway and Denmark (1967) and L'Ormindo in Munich (1969). Operas receiving their UK professional premieres in Caplat's time included Idomeneo (1951), The Rake's Progress (1953), La voix humaine (1960) and Intermezzo (1974). Caplat encouraged the conductor Raymond Leppard to revive neglected early operas, and Glyndebourne gave the first British productions of L'incoronazione di Poppea (1962) L'Ormindo (1967), La Calisto (1970) and Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (1972).

Caplat was particularly interested in good stage design, hitherto a weakness at Glyndebourne. He brought in leading British designers, including Hugh Casson, Leslie Hurry, Osbert Lancaster, Oliver Messel and John Piper. Later designers during Caplat's tenure included John Bury, Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, Erté and David Hockney.

In his sixties, Caplat began handing over responsibility to his deputy, Brian Dickie, who succeeded him in 1981. The Financial Times commented, "When Moran Caplat left Glyndebourne at 65 he was one of the longest-serving opera administrators in Europe. Moreover he handed over one of Europe's most successful houses."

Caplat died in Tunbridge Wells at the age of 86.