Child star Aled Jones sings with late tenor in poignant ‘Panis Angelicus’ duet

30 June 2025, 11:30

We’re remembering this beautiful duet between a young Aled Jones and the legendary late tenor Stuart Burrows, as we farewell one of the all-time great operatic voices.

The Welsh tenor Stuart Burrows, described by his protégé Aled Jones as “the greatest lyric tenor of his generation”, has died aged 92.

We’re remembering him with this poignant duet between the two Welsh singers, filmed in 1985 at St David’s Hall in Cardiff.

In the video, Stuart invites a young Aled to sing with him. He had just seen the star choirboy sing the role of the Angel in Handel’s Jeptha, and told the concert hall the performance had been “the talk of Cardiff and, indeed, Wales”.

After Jones sang, ‘How Beautiful Are The Feet’ from Handel’s Messiah, both singers performed César Franck’s ‘Panis Angelicus’ in their native Welsh.

Read more: Aled Jones sings heartwarming ‘Pie Jesu’ duet with his 13-year-old self

Aled Jones with Stuart Burrows

Aled told Classic FM: “Growing up as a young singer in Wales, we all wanted to be Stuart Burrows when we grew up. One of the greatest voices ever. And I was lucky enough to get to work with him and be mentored by him. As a child, one of the highlights of my career was actually singing ‘Panis Angelicus’ with Stuart, and he had his arm around me, performing it to a packed David’s Hall in Cardiff. Very memorable.

“He also advised me on an Emmy-winning documentary, to not sing for five years when my voice broke and you should have seen my jaw hit the floor. It was the biggest shock of my young life. I actually listened to him as well. As I say, the greatest lyric tenor of his generation. And how lucky that we still have recordings of his to enjoy.”

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As well as an international operatic career, Burrows also starred in his own TV series, Stuart Burrows Sings, which ran for eight years. In it he combined performances of opera and oratorio alongside Victorian song and folksongs and was one of the first exponents of what was not yet referred to as ‘crossover’ repertoire.