Avon Saxon

Avon Dawson Saxon (c. 1857 – 24 March 1909) was a Canadian operatic and concert singer who created the role of Friar Tuck in the romantic opera Ivanhoe (1891) by Arthur Sullivan and Julian Sturgis and Francal in Mirette by André Messager at the Savoy Theatre in 1894.

Avon Saxon was born in Grand-Pré near Windsor in Nova Scotia where his father had a farm, and was named after the River Avon. His brother George Saxon served as an officer in the United States Army. After the death of his father his mother married a Mr. Benjamin. Through this marriage Saxon had a half-brother, Luther Benjamin.

A bass-baritone, during January and February 1888 Saxon appeared in New York and Boston as a principal with the Boston Ideal Opera Company appearing in Victor, Fra Diavolo, La fille du régiment, The Bohemian Girl and Carmen. In August 1888, while appearing as principal baritone with the Amy Sherwin Opera Company in Melbourne in Australia he was charged with assault against an employee of the company over a trunk of costumes.

Moving to the United Kingdom, from January 1889 he sang Escamillo in Carmen for the Carl Rosa Opera Company; in April 1890 he sang in a concert with Miss Emily M'Laughlin at the Steinway Hall in London, while in October 1890 he sang in a concert with Marie Roze in The Athenaeum in Hartlepool, and for whom he was one of a quartet of vocalists billed as 'The Meister Singers'.

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