The British bass-baritone Ashley Riches read English at the University of Cambridge, where he was a member of the Choir of King’s College under Stephen Cleobury. He went on to complete his studies at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London. As a participant in the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House, he sang roles including Moralès (Carmen), Mandarin (Turandot), Baron Douphol (La traviata) and Officer (Dialogues des Carmélites).
He has sung roles such as Escamillo (Carmen), Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro), Schaunard (La bohème) and the Pirate King (The Pirates of Penzance) for the English National Opera.
In concert, Ashley Riches has sung in Berlioz’s Lélio under John Eliot Gardiner at Carnegie Hall in New York, in Bernstein’s Wonderful Town with the London Symphony Orchestra under Simon Rattle and in Handel’s Giulio Cesare and Agrippina on a European tour with Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset. He has also sung Creon (Oedipus Rex) with the Berlin Philharmonic.
Engagements in the 2022/23 season have included Angelotti (Tosca) with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra under Edward Gardner, Messiaen’s Saint François d’Assise with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ryan Wigglesworth, Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri with the Czech Philharmonic under Daniel Harding, and concerts with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Andrew Davis, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment under Stephen Layton, The English Concert under Harry Bicket, the Gabrieli Consort & Players under Paul McCreesh and the Hallé Orchestra under Mark Elder.
