Russell Thomas is an American operatic tenor. He has performed leading roles at some of the world's leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the English National Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, among others.
Born in Miami, Florida, Thomas did not discover his voice until the age of 18, when a voice teacher suggested he could make a career out of singing. [1] He went on to study music at conservatory, and sang in the chorus of Miami Opera as an undergraduate. Thomas went on to be a young artist with Seattle Opera Young Artist Program, the Florida Grand Opera, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Sarasota Opera. [2]
He has sung the role of Tito in Mozart's La clemenza di Tito and Rodolfo in Puccini's La Boheme at the Metropolitan Opera, and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden he appeared as Gabriele Adorno in Verdi's Simon Boccanegra . [3] He is the Artist in Residence for the Los Angeles Opera until 2024. [4]
Thomas is an openly gay man who became a father through adoption. [5]
Lauritz Melchior was a Danish-American opera singer. He was the preeminent Wagnerian tenor of the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s and has come to be considered the quintessence of his voice type. Late in his career, Melchior appeared in movie musicals and on radio and television. He also made numerous recordings.
Tito Gobbi was an Italian operatic baritone with an international reputation.
Sir Thomas Boaz Allen is an English operatic baritone. He is widely admired in the opera world for his voice, the versatility of his repertoire, and his acting—leading many to regard him as one of the best lyric baritones of the late 20th century. In October 2011, he was appointed Chancellor of Durham University, succeeding Bill Bryson.
Carol Theresa Vaness is an American lirico-spinto soprano and university professor.
Jerry Hadley was an American operatic tenor. He received three Grammy awards for his vocal performances in the recordings of Jenůfa, Susannah, and Candide. Hadley was a leading American tenor for nearly two decades. He was mentored by soprano Joan Sutherland and her husband, conductor Richard Bonynge. Leonard Bernstein chose Hadley for his 1989 recording of Candide on Deutsche Grammophon. Aside from singing opera and operetta, Hadley also sang on Broadway.
Giacomo Lauri-Volpi was an Italian tenor with a lyric voice of exceptional range and technical facility. He performed throughout Europe and the Americas in a top-class career that spanned 40 years.
Vinson Cole is an American operatic tenor.
Simon John O'Neill is a New Zealand-born operatic tenor. In 1998, his image appeared on the New Zealand one-dollar performing arts postage stamp.
Oreste Kirkop (Chircop) was a Maltese singer.
Charles Castronovo is an American operatic tenor. Castronovo was born to a Sicilian father and an Ecuadorian mother in Queens, New York, but grew up in Southern California. He attended California State University, Fullerton, for undergraduate studies in classical voice. During his time at the university, his talent came to the attention of William Vendice, the chorusmaster of the Los Angeles Opera, who promptly hired him as a chorister.
Marcello Giordani was an Italian operatic tenor who sang leading roles of the Italian and French repertoire in opera houses throughout Europe and the United States. He had a distinguished association with the New York Metropolitan Opera, where he sang in over 240 performances from the time of his debut there in 1993. He founded the Marcello Giordani Foundation to help young opera singers.
Štefan Margita is a Slovak opera singer who has had an active international career since 1981. He began his career singing mostly roles from the lyric tenor repertoire but in recent years he has tackled a number of dramatic tenor roles. His career has taken him to the stages of many of the world's best opera houses, including La Scala, the Royal Opera, London, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Liceu, and the Opéra Bastille. Margita has had his debut performance at the Metropolitan Opera in November 2009 as Luka Kuzmič in Leoš Janáček's From the House of the Dead.
Rachel Willis-Sørensen is an American operatic soprano.
Diana Montague is an English mezzo-soprano, known for her performances in opera and as a concert singer.
Brian Jagde is an American operatic tenor. He has performed roles at leading opera houses throughout the world, including the San Francisco Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, the Royal Opera House, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro Massimo, and the Teatro di San Carlo.
Louis Otey is an American baritone singer born in South Dakota. He performed at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera and other major international companies.
Hongni Wu is a Chinese mezzo-soprano operatic singer.
John Lanigan was an operatic tenor. Born in Australia, he studied singing in Italy and made a 30-year career at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, London from 1951 to 1981. He sang more than 80 roles for the Covent Garden company. In his early years he played leading lyric tenor roles, and later became known for his performances in character parts. He created roles in new operas by, among others, Britten, Tippett, Davies and Henze.
Rainer Trost is a German tenor whose performance repertoire encompasses operas, operettas, Lieder and oratorios. He is known for roles in Mozart operas. He is also a voice teacher at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.
Randall Scotting is an American countertenor performing internationally at concert venues and opera houses. As a young singer, he made his American stage debut performing the role of Nireno in Handel's Giulio Cesare at Opera Colorado. The next year he made his European stage debut performing the role of Teseo in Vivaldi's Ercole sul Termodonte at the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. In December 2019, Scotting made his Royal Opera House Covent Garden mainstage debut in London performing the role of Apollo in a production of Britten's Death in Venice In May 2022, Scotting made his Bayerische Staatsoper debut in Munich performing the role of Michael in a production of Haas's micro-tonal opera Thomas. On 2 September 2022, Scotting's debut solo album with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Crown: Heroic Arias for Senesino was released by Signum Classics.