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In the 2021/22 season audiences can see him as Sparafucile in Oliver Mears’ new production of Rigoletto for the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Hunding in Richard Jones’ new production of The Valkyrie for the English National Opera; and Swallow in Stefan Herheim’s new production of Peter Grimes at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich. Concert appearances include Gremin in Eugene Onegin with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Fabio Luisi and his role debut as Gurnemanz in semi-staged performances of Parsifal with the Orchestra of Opera North conducted by Richard Farnes.
Recent highlights include Claggart Billy Budd, Sarastro, Sparafucile Rigoletto, Gremin Eugene Onegin, Fafner in The Ring Cycle, Ramfis Aida , Il Commendatore Don Giovanni and Timur Turandot, all at Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Ochs Der Rosenkavalier for the Glyndebourne Festival and the Welsh National Opera; Marke Tristan und Isolde for the Glyndebourne Festival; Sarastro at the Wiener Staatsoper, Hamburgische Staatsoper and for the Dutch National Opera and Glyndebourne Festival; Claggart for the Teatro Réal in Madrid, at the Glyndebourne and Aldeburgh Festivals and at the BBC Proms; Geronte di Ravoir Manon Lescaut for the Metropolitan Opera; Bottom A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; Doctor Wozzeck at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Arkel Pelléas et Mélisande for the Opernhaus Zurich, Oper Frankfurt and Glyndebourne Festival. His many roles for the English National Opera include Sarastro, Pimen Boris Gudonov and Fiesco Simon Boccanegra. He has also sung Judge Turpin Sweeney Todd at the Opernhaus Zurich; Banco Macbeth for the Opéra de Bordeaux; Pimen for the Opéra de Nice; Balducci Benvenuto Cellini and Hobson Peter Grimes in Salzburg; Rocco in Seville; Pogner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for the Welsh National Opera and Fasolt Das Rheingold and Filippo Don Carlo for Opera North. Future seasons see him return to the Metropolitan Opera, the English National Opera, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence as well as his company debut at the Opéra national de Paris.
Highly in demand on the concert platform, he has appeared at the Bregenz, Edinburgh, Lucerne, Salzburg and Three Choirs Festivals and at the BBC Proms. He works regularly with leading orchestras and conductors and recent engagements have included the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House with Pappano; the Philharmonia with Sir Andrew Davis; the Hallé Orchestra with Sir Mark Elder; the Mahler Chamber Orchestra with Harding; the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with Bicket; the Monteverdi Choir with Gardiner; the Scottish Chamber Orchestra with Nézet-Séguin and the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen with Langrée.
He has recorded the roles of Polyphemus Acis and Galetea (Nimbus); Somnus/Cadmus Semele and Ariodate Serse (Chandos); Ubaldo in Donizetti’s Imelda de Lambertazzi and Goffredo in Bellini’s Il Pirata (Opera Rara); Rocco Fidelio (Glyndebourne Live) as well as Judas in The Apostles with the Hallé Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder; Beethoven Missa Solemnis with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and John Nelson and Haydn Masses and Bach Cantatas with the Monteverdi Choir and Sir John Eliot Gardiner.
Born in Lancashire into a family of strong singers, he initially studied trumpet at the Royal Academy of Music, and is now a visiting professor at both the Royal Academy and the Royal College of Music.
2021-22 season / 716 words. Not to be altered without permission.