Bryn Terfel Bass baritone

Biography

Born in Wales, Sir Bryn Terfel studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. He made his debut in 1990 at the Welsh National Opera in the role of Guglielmo (Così fan tutte). The following year, he sang the Sprecher (Die Zauberflöte) at La Monnaie in Brussels and made his American debut as Figaro (Le Nozze di Figaro) at the Santa Fe Opera.

Among roles that have marked his career are those of the Dutchman (Das Fliegende Holländer), Méphistophélès (Faust), Leporello and the title role of Don Giovanni, Jochanaan (Salome), Scarpia (Tosca), Nick Shadow (The Rake's Progress), Wolfram (Tannhäuser), Balstrode (Peter Grimes), Dulcamara (L'Elisir d'Amore).

In recent seasons, he has sung Don Basilio (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) at the Royal Opera House in London, the title roles in Sweeney Todd in Zurich and Boris Godunov at the Deutsche Oper in Berlin and the Royal Opera House in London, Scarpia at London's Royal Opera House, the Vienna Staatsoper, the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich and the Chorégies d'Orange, the title role of Falstaff at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, the Opernhaus Zurich and at Grange Park Opera, Don Pizarro (Fidelio) at the Schloßberg in Graz, the title role of Don Pasquale at the Royal Opera House in London. He has also given recitals in Tokyo, Moscow, London, Monte Carlo and Zurich.

During the 2024-2025 season, he is performing Scarpia in Munich, London and New York, Don Basilio and Dulcamara in Vienna, and makes his debut in the title role of Rachmaninov's Aleko, presented as a diptych with Puccini's Gianni Schicchi for Grange Park Opera.

He has a vast discography of operas by Mozart, Wagner and Strauss to his name, as well as a dozen solo albums.

Knighted in 2017, he is also a Commander of the Order of the British Empire and in 2006 he received the last Shakespeare Prize from the Alfred Toepfer Foundation.

At the Paris Opera: Don Giovanni (title role), 1999; Les Contes d'Hoffmann (the four diabolical roles), 2002; La Damnation de Faust (Méphistophélès), 2015; Tosca (Scarpia), 2016, 2022; Falstaff (title role), 2017

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