Welsh bass-baritone Bryn Terfel can look back on an outstanding international career that takes him regularly to prestigious concert stages and opera houses all over the world, including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, the Paris Opéra, La Scala, Milan, and the Zurich Opera. Among the roles with which he is most closely associated are Verdi’s Falstaff, Donizetti’s Dulcamara (L’elisir d’amore) and Wagner’s Wotan (Der Ring des Nibelungen) as well as Dutchman (Der fliegende Holländer).
After winning the Song Prize at the 1989 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, Bryn Terfel made his professional operatic debut the following year as Guglielmo (Così tan tutte) with the Welsh National Opera. He made his Salzburg Festival debut in 1992 as Jochanaan (Salome) and as the Spirit Messenger (Die Frau ohne Schatten), returning as Mozart’s Leporello and Figaro and as Falstaff.
In 2015 he celebrated his 50th birthday and 25 years in the profession with a gala concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall and with a special concert performance of Tosca with the Welsh National Opera at Cardiff’s Wales Millennium Centre.
Recent performances have included his role debut as Pizarro in a semi-staged performance of Fidelio at the Schlossberg in Graz, the title role in Don Pasquale at Covent Garden, Scarpia at both Covent Garden and the Vienna State Opera, the title role in Boris Godunov for the Deutsche Oper in Berlin and his house debut at the ABAO Bilbao Opera as Wagner’s Dutchman.
A celebrated recitalist, Bryn Terfel is equally renowned for his versatility as a concert performer with highlights ranging from the opening ceremony of the Wales Millennium Centre and the Last Night of the Proms to a gala concert with Andrea Bocelli in New York’s Central Park. For nine years he also hosted his own festival in Faenol in north Wales, and in December 2020 he curated a special Christmas concert for the Metropolitan Opera’s ‘Met Stars Live in Concert’ series that was streamed across the world from Brecon Cathedral in Wales.
Among the awards that Bryn Terfel has received are a Grammy, a Classical Brit and a Gramophone Award. His discography includes operas by Mozart, Wagner and Strauss and more than 15 solo discs.
In 2017 he received a knighthood for his services to music.
