Opera singer who became noted entrepreneur, Julian Saipe - The Jewish Chronicle

My son Julian Saipe, who has died aged 56, was a musician, entrepreneur and leadership coach who actually made his debut, as a singer, at the age of three months! He was sitting in his “baby relax” at one of my rehearsals for a BBC Prom, when I was playing the Grieg piano concerto and when the slow movement started he put his head back and, like a dog, started “lowing” and we couldn’t stop him………he brought the rehearsal to a halt! From that point on, he sang endlessly, wherever he was, whatever he was doing!

Born to musical parents, myself and Barry Saipe, his exquisite boy soprano voice was recognised at nine years old. In fact he was the youngest boy to have sung the part of one of the boys in The Magic Flute: (we were going to put it in the Guinness Book of Records) and he was called on regularly by the English National Opera, to appear in The Magic Flute and Tosca, The Royal Opera House, for Parsifal, and by Decca where he sang the role of the boy, Paris, in the award winning recording of the opera, King Priam and by BBC TV, for Timon of Athens. He also performed in Christmas concerts at the Royal Albert Hall) and the Highgate Choral Society, for the Bernstein Chichester Psalms. He was also the soloist in the Finchley Children’s Music Group, among many others.

His early schooling was at Haberdashers Aske’s but at the age of 13 Julian was awarded a music scholarship to Clifton College (Polacks House) in Bristol, where he remained until moving on to graduate with an English degree from Kings College, London. Later on in his life he became a Trustee of Polacks House, ensuring the continuation of Jewish life at Clifton College.

Julian’s mature vocal studies continued at Guildhall School of Music after which he launched his professional career as an opera singer, and performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for eight years. His bass-baritone roles included such operas as La Traviata, Albert Herring, Il Trovatore and Turandot, for British Youth Opera, Clonter Opera and at Holland Park. He appeared in the Royal Opera Chorus for Faust, Rigoletto, Die Meistersinger, the Tales of Hoffmann and Don Carlos. He also sang in Europe, New York and Hong Kong.

In 2000 he married Vivienne Gonley, a successful young chef with a small company catering exclusive dinner parties. They now had their first child and Julian was becoming increasingly aware of the modest earning capacity of young singers and looked for ways to aid this situation. After giving up professional singing, his wife’s world introduced him to the hospitality industry and his natural entrepreneurial skills eventually developed her fledgling business into the industry-recognised brand of Zafferano, which became one of London’s highly acclaimed food and event management brands, winning the UK Caterer of the Year Award three times. The company was acquired in 2018 and Julian exited the business.

But Covid saw the demise of the hospitality industry and Julian decided to change course. With his performance and entrepreneurial skills he became a leadership coach for top performers, CEOs and executive teams He simultaneously ran leadership development training programmes internationally. He became a contributor to Forbes, a global business media company, and as a member of the Coaches Council, he was a speaker for Vistage International, a peer mentoring and coaching organisation for CEOs.

Julian sat on the advisory board for a range of technology businesses, and became a trustee for three charities in the fields of education, international and social development.

His depth of knowledge and understanding of the human psyche brought him a loyal following across the globe. Using his special writing skills he was also invited to be a regular contributor to Forbes, a global business media company.

His ambassadorial work for the charities Abraham Initiatives, Tsedek and Polacks House took up a great deal of his time and thought, as did his love of leyning and many remember his glorious voice filling the New North London Synagogue with all its warmth and beauty. (711 words) He was also very involved in a number of Jewish charities, as an Ambassador for the Abraham Initiatives, and Tzedek, a trustee of Polack House (Clifton) where he himself was an old-Polackian.

Julian’s brother Jonathan, said:.”Performance ran through Julian’s DNA. Losing (him) has turned our world upside down. The constant messages of support …. talked about Julian being larger than life in so many ways; the opera singer; the spartan who loved British Military Fitness; the cyclist who took part in numerous charity rides for Norwood; the caterer who grew a fledgling business into an industry-recognised brand; and the leadership coach who tried to transform lives through mindfulness and philosophy.

Julian was so incredibly unique. He once travelled as singer to New York by boat, and joked that when the seas were rough, everyone sang in the wrong key because the pianist couldn’t hit the correct chord at the start of a piece.

Being only 19 months apart, Julian and I had a very close relationship. I missed him terribly when he was at boarding school, and couldn’t wait to see him during holidays. …. We sang and performed together at Finchley Children’s Music Group, which our children, cousins Jessie and Ellie emulated years later.

“As a younger brother, I found myself regularly at the English National Opera’s Colosseum in Leicester Square to watch Julian perform at Mozart’s Magic Flute or Puccini's Tosca, night after night. In the Magic Flute, dressed and painted in silver, he would descend in a chariot as one of the three spirits. As a nine-year-old, I was too focused on trying to get the little red binoculars out of their latch without losing my 10p piece, but I also recall a strong desire to announce to the crowd that they were watching my big brother on stage.

There was the inevitable sibling rivalry throughout our childhood.....But as an adult, I still proudly talk of him and his incredible achievements. His ability to entertain and humour; his audacious social skills; his knowledge of opera and classical music; and his ability to do the longest ever shofar blowing “tekiah gadola” in the South West of England.

Julian loved to play the fool. He would ... sing operatic arias in the middle of nightclubs and drown out the sound of thumping music, to the utter dismay of the crowd. . He had the most exquisite taste in classical music and yet the most dreadful taste in rock music. He never liked jazz, which I always struggled to understand. . We would watch the rugby together. Go to shul together. Eat bagels and smoked salmon. Drink cups of tea. And just generally chew the fat.

But under the large physique and performative confidence, there existed a vulnerable character struggling with his own sense of self; a person searching for meaning without really knowing what he was searching for. His journey into leadership coaching started to expose his own feelings of trauma, which deeply affected him and exposed his inner child. He became a much more frightened, withdrawn person; a person we didn’t recognise and those close to him really struggled to understand. On Thursday 14 November, Julian finally got back into his chariot, 45 years on from being one of the three spirits in the Magic Flute, and ascended back up to heaven.
God bless you. Rest in peace, dear brother. We will always love you. 

Julian Saipe is survived by his children, David, 22 and Jessica, 19, his fiancée Lucie Mumford, his brother Jonathan, his parents, Norma and Barry Saipe and extended family. His marriage to Vivienne ended in divorce.

Julian Saipe. Born May 24, 1968, Died November 15, 2024

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