Russell Thomas (born 1976/1977) [1] 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. [2] 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. [3]
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 . [4] He performed the role of Canio in a 2021 online video of Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci , produced by Lyric Opera of Chicago. [5] He is the Artist in Residence for the Los Angeles Opera until 2024. [6]
Thomas is an openly gay man who became a father through adoption. [7]
Lauritz Melchior was a Danish-American opera singer. He was the preeminent Wagnerian heldentenor 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.
Jonathan Stewart Vickers,, known professionally as Jon Vickers, was a Canadian heldentenor.
Carol Theresa Vaness is an American lirico-spinto soprano and university professor.
Sir David McVicar is a Scottish opera and theatre director.
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.
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.
Roy Cornelius Smith is an American operatic tenor, from Big Stone Gap, Virginia.
Vladimir Vasilyevich Galouzine is a Russian tenor. He has performed in such Russian operas as The Queen of Spades, Boris Godunov and Khovanshchina and has performed the lead tenor roles in Italian operas including Madama Butterfly, Otello, Tosca, Aida, and Manon Lescaut.
Thomas T. Hayward was an American operatic tenor. He was a cousin of opera singer Lawrence Tibbett.
Barry Banks is a Grammy Nominated English/American lyric tenor who, after a long association with The Metropolitan Opera and English National Opera, has achieved acclaim as one of finest interpreters of the Italian bel canto repertoire.
Diana Montague is an English mezzo-soprano, known for her performances in opera and as a concert singer. She is Married to the English Tenor David Rendall
Myrna Docia Sharlow was an American soprano who had an active performance career in operas and concerts during the 1910s through the 1930s. She began her career in 1912 with the Boston Opera Company and became one of Chicago's more active sopranos from 1915–1920, and again in 1923–1924 and 1926–1927. She sang with several other important American opera companies during her career, including one season at the Metropolitan Opera. She made only a handful of opera appearances in Europe during her career, most notably singing in the English premiere of Riccardo Zandonai's Francesca da Rimini at Covent Garden in 1914. Her repertoire spanned a wide range from leading dramatic soprano roles to lighter lyric soprano fair and comprimario parts. She even performed a few roles traditionally sung by mezzo-sopranos or contraltos.
Gary Lehman is an American operatic tenor, specialising in the Heldentenor repertoire.
Fernand Ansseau was a Belgian lyric-spinto tenor.
Ricardo Bernal is a Mexican lyric tenor.
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.
Svetla Vassileva is a Bulgarian opera singer (soprano).