In recent years, Leigh Melrose has carved out a formidable reputation for the performance of new works. His excellent sense of rhythm, fearless vocal flexibility and engaging stage presence mark him out as one of the most sought after singers for this challenging work.
A wonderfully dynamic artist on both the concert and opera platform Melrose is also in demand for core repertoire from Brahms to Berg and Mahler to Mozart.
A graduate of St John’s College, Cambridge, and the Royal Academy of Music, his opera engagements have taken him to companies all over the world where he has sung Demetrius A Midsummer Night’s Dream for La Monnaie, Escamillo Carmen at the Royal Albert Hall and with CBSO/Sakari Oramo, Figaro Il Barbiere di Siviglia at New York City Opera, Silvio I Pagliacci for Welsh National Opera, Britten’s Death in Venice, Liceu Barcelona, Papageno The Magic Flute and Marcello La bohème for Opera Zuid, Sid Albert Herring, Salzburger Landestheater and for the Opéra Comique and Opéra de Rouen, the title role in Eugene Onegin, Longborough Festival Opera and Ned Keene Peter Grimes, Papageno The Magic Flute, The Count Marriage of Figaro, Rodolfo Leoncavallo’s La bohème and Junius The Rape of Lucretia for English National Opera.
In the contemporary field Melrose has given many world premieres including most recently Elliot Carter’s On Conversing with Paradise at the Aldeburgh Festival under Oliver Knussen and Evan in James MacMillan’s new opera The Sacrifice at Welsh National Opera, both to critical acclaim. He has also sung Punch in Birtwistle’s Punch and Judy in Porto, Rambo in the Channel Four film of John Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer, roles in Jonathan Dove’s TV Opera, Man on the Moon for Channel 4, Xenakis Ais with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Proms and Berlin Festival and Peter Maxwell Davies The Martyrdom of St Magnus at the composer’s St Magnus Festival, Orkney, in Edinburgh and Inverness.
Concert performances have included Belshazzar’s Feast, Berlioz’ Symphony No.3 and The Death of Klinghoffer with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Les Troyens with LSO/Davies, Britten Canticles at the Liceu Barcelona and with Roger Vignoles at the Queen Elizabeth Hall and the Wigmore Hall in London, Fauré Requiem with the Northern Sinfonia and Thierry Fischer, De Falla’s La Vida Breve at the BBC Proms, works by Mozart and Salieri with the City of London Sinfonia at the Mostly Mozart Festival at the Barbican, and Carmina Burana in Birmingham Symphony Hall, at Usher Hall and with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.
In 09-10 engagements included Ned Keane Peter Grimes for the Vlaamse Opera and Opera Oviedo, Papageno Die Zauberflöte for Seattle Opera, Second Apprentice Wozzeck in concert with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen in London and Paris, the world premiere of Johannes Kalitzke’s Die Besessenen at Theater an der Wien, concerts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Vassily Petrenko, the Hebrides Ensemble and the Orquesta de Cadeques.
Leigh Melrose is represented by Intermusica.
July 2010 / 485 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.
Rosenblatt Recital at St John’s Smith Square, London
“The third Rosenblatt recital deserved a medal for gallantry. The scheduled singer succumbed to a cold in the morning, and the young baritone Leigh Melrose answered the call. He sang a full programme of operatic arias, with well-placed confidence in a sturdy voice and a communicative personality.”
John Steane, Opera Now, January 2010
Detlev Glanert’s setting of Brahms songs for baritone
Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra / cond. Vasily Petrenko
“Hamburg-born Glanert has woven a sinuous orchestration around the quartet of songs, brought to life here by soloist Leigh Melrose on his Hope Street debut. The baritone produced crisp and precise German diction and some pleasing phrasing in what was a thoughtful reading of the piece by both singer and Phil.”
Liverpool Echo, November 2009
Xenakis’s Aïs at the BBC Proms
BBC Symphony Orchestra / cond. David Robertson / percussion Colin Currie
“This was a spectacular performance by baritone Leigh Melrose, who handled the extremes of register (much of the baritone part lies within the soprano range) and the complex demands of Xenakis’s writing with impressive vocal dexterity and a convincingly theatrical delivery.”
Carla Rees, MusicWeb International, September 2009
“Although written for baritone, the settings of texts by Homer and Sappho make such demands on the voice that Leigh Melrose was frequently soaring above the orchestra in am amplified falsetto, deplying a range of techniques designed to keep his voice on the edge of expressive tension. Whether growling, barking, or sighing, this wa a performance putting into incisive context Xenakis’s vivid description of a journey into Hades.”
Ben Hogwood, Classical Source, September 2009
“Leigh Melrose delivered the disjointed Greek text in virtuoso falsetto swoops and cries that all too briefly relaxed into an almost lyrical, keening line in his normal register.”
Erica Jeal, The Guardian, September 2009
“The Xenakis death piece was Aïs, 18 savagely eloquent minutes of Homer and Sappho quotations, flung across the Albert Hall’s dome by an ululating baritone (Leigh Melrose, brave), a furious solo percussionist (Colin Currie, indefatigable) and an irruptive orchestra fond of sulphurous brass laments.”
Geoff Brown, The Times, September 2009
Carter’s On Conversing with Paradise at Aldeburgh Festival
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group / cond. Oliver Knussen
“Leigh Melrose sang impressively, supplying euphony as well as fierceness. His indignant repetitions of “vanity” (as in “Pull down thy vanity”) cut through the texture with admonitory stoutness.”
Paul Driver, The Times, June 2009
“The baritone (Leigh Melrose, excellent)”
Andrew Clark, Financial Times, June 2009
“…baritone Leigh Melrose and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group evoked a timelessly simple and savage world which made the Maltings rafters ring.”
Michael Church, The Independent, 5 stars, June 2009
Bartley in Vaughan Williams Riders to the Sea
English National Opera / cond. Ed Gardner / dir. Fiona Shaw
“But the cast does well, notably...Leigh Melrose's devil-may-care Bartley.”
George Hall, Independent on Sunday, November 2008
“Around her (Pat Bardon) is an outstanding young cast: Leigh Melrose as the angry remaining son, resolved to follow in his brothers’ wake.”
Richard Morrison, The Times, November 2008
Britten Death in Venice
Teatro Liceu, Barcelona / Cond. Sebastian Weigle / Dir. Willy Decker
"Aschenbach was tailed by a group of six camp cabaret figures led by Leigh Melrose who made a clearly projected cameo as the English Clerk"
Eric Jeal, Opera Magazine, July 2008
Tempter in Peter Maxwell Davies The Martyrdom of St. Magnus
Cond. William Conway / Hebrides Ensemble
“The real character role(s)... baritone Leigh Melrose's sleazily extrovert turn as the Tempter...”
Rowena Smith, The Guardian, June 2008
Philip Whilby's Bronte Mass
Cond. David Hill, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra
"…the outstanding baritone Leigh Melrose evokes the mournful whine of an Aeolian harp by floating up to a ghostly falsetto…"
Alfred Hickling, The Guardian, November 2007
Evan in MacMillan's The Sacrifice
Welsh National Opera / cond. James Macmillan / dir. Katie Mitchell
"Leigh Melrose makes a convincing political thug…"
Andrew Clark, The Financial Times , September 2007
"Leigh Melrose is suitably volatile as a hothead whose jealousy fuels his tribal hatred."
Richard Morrison, The Times , September 2007
"Leigh Melrose was spot on as the enemy Evan."
Rupert Christiansen, The Daily Telegraph , September 2007
"…the love duet in the second act between Sian and Evan, powerfully sung by Lisa Milne and Leigh Melrose, is charming…"
Mike Smith, The Herald , September 2007
"The passionate Act II…finely sung by Leigh Melrose."
Stephen Walsh, The Independent , September 2007
"…splendidly sung by Melrose"
Paul Driver, The Sunday Times, October 2007
Sid in Britten Albert Herring
Salzburg Landetheater / cond. Ivor Bolton / dir. Stephen Medcalf
"The singing was magnificent without exception, played with lashings of clichés. Yvonne Kenny (Lady Billows), Susan Gorton (housekeeper), James Edwards (Albert), Della Jones (his mother), the young lovers Sid (Leigh Melrose) and Nancy (Astrid Hofer) were all perfectly suited to this "very British" performance. The applause was most enthusiastic. "
Salzburger Nachrichten, April 2007
Lubano in Mozart & Schikander's Der Stein der Weisen
Garsington Opera / cond. Steuart Bedford / dir. John Cox
"Leigh Melrose acts and sings everyone else off stage as Lubano."
Hilary Finch, The Times, June 2006
"The jolly gamekeeper Lubano is energetically and engagingly played here by Leigh Melrose."
Edward Seckerson, The Independent, June 2006
Achille in Offenbach's La Belle Hélène
English National Opera / cond. Emmanuel Joel / dir. Laurent Pelly
"The kings duly dominate, with David Kempster and Leigh Melrose giving stand-out performances as Agamemnon and Achilles."
Edward Seckerson, The Independent, April 2006
These are featured projects related to Leigh Melrose:
Highlights
LEIGH MELROSE
2009/10 HIGHLIGHTS
• 2 September 2009 Xenakis Aïs, BBC Symphony Orchestra / BBC Proms,Cond. David Robertson (also 4 September at the Berlin Festival)
• 8 October 2009 2nd Apprentice in Berg Wozzeck, Philharmonia Orchestra, Cond. Esa-Pekka Salonen, Royal Festival Hall (also 12 October at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Paris)
• 7 November 2009 Dentlev Glanert’s settings of Brahms songs, Royal...