+++
date = "2016-05-05T18:04:00+01:00"
discipline = "Tenor"
lastmod = "2016-05-05T18:04:00+01:00"
primary_image = "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmopera/image/upload/v1581276562/media/2020/02/RussellThomas-FayFox_l6vwjs.jpg"
primary_image_credit = "Photo: Fay Fox."
publishDate = "2016-05-05T18:04:00+01:00"
related_companies = ["scene/companies/royal-opera-house.md", "scene/companies/washington-national-opera.md", "scene/companies/los-angeles-opera.md", "scene/companies/bayerische-staatsoper.md", "scene/companies/canadian-opera-company.md", "scene/companies/deutsche-oper-berlin.md", "scene/companies/the-metropolitan-opera.md", "scene/companies/lyric-opera-of-chicago.md", "scene/companies/salzburg-festival.md", "scene/companies/san-francisco-opera.md", "scene/companies/english-national-opera.md"]
slug = "russell-thomas"
title = "Russell Thomas"
website = "https://www.russellthomastenor.com/"
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With a “heroically shining tone of exceptional clarity and precision” (_Opera Magazine_) and “gorgeously burnished power” (_The New York Times_), American tenor Russell Thomas uses his signature elegance and intensity to create vivid character portrayals on the world’s most important stages.

The 2019/20 season features Mr. Thomas’s much-anticipated role debuts in a trio of important Verdi roles. He opens the season with his first Don Alvaro in a new Frank Castorf production of _La forza del destino_ at Deutsche Oper Berlin, and subsequently makes his role and house debuts as Radames in Houston Grand Opera’s new Phelim McDermott production of _Aida_. Amid returns to Canadian Opera Company as Radames and Washington National Opera as the title character in Verdi’s iconic _Otello_, he also joins Gianandrea Noseda at the Vienna Konzerthaus for Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Mr. Thomas closes his season with a role debut as the title character in _Ernani_ at San Francisco Opera.

Last season, Mr. Thomas made his staged role debut as Verdi’s Otello, appearing at Canadian Opera Company and Deutsche Oper Berlin after concert performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He sang Manrico in _Il trovatore_ at the Bayerische Staatsoper and Lyric Opera of Chicago, Idomeneo in a new Peter Sellars production at the Salzburg Festival, made his role debut as Roberto Devereux at San Francisco Opera, and brought his celebrated Tito in _La clemenza di Tito_ to Los Angeles Opera. On the concert stage, he joined the World Orchestra for Peace in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at the BBC Proms, and performed Mahler’s _Das Lied von der Erde_ with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra.

Acclaimed for his “voice of intrinsic warmth and refined sense of style” (_Opera News_), Mr. Thomas has enjoyed a string of operatic triumphs in recent seasons, including performances as Don Carlo at Washington National Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin; Cavaradossi in _Tosca_ at Los Angeles Opera and Los Angeles Philharmonic; and Pollione in _Norma_ at Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. He has debuted as Florestan in _Fidelio_ at Cincinnati Opera, as Stiffelio at Oper Frankfurt, and as Turiddu in _Cavalleria rusticana_ at Deutsche Oper Berlin. Mr. Thomas has sung Rodolfo in _La bohème_ at the Metropolitan Opera, Loge in _Das Rheingold_ with the New York Philharmonic, Adorno in _Simon Boccanegra_ at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, and Ismaele in _Nabucco_ at the Metropolitan Opera and Seattle Opera. His portrayal of the title character in the new Peter Sellars production of _La clemenza di Tito_ at the Salzburg Festival and Dutch National Opera drew praise from the _The New Yorker_, which noted, “Thomas’s penetrating tenor, which has lately acquired richness and heft, anchored the evening.”

Mr. Thomas’s “ardent expression and spine-tingling high notes” (_Cincinnati Enquirer_) have been heard in the Verdi Requiem with the New York Philharmonic, Oregon Bach Festival, Theater Basel, and the national symphonies of Washington, D.C. and Barcelona. He has appeared as tenor soloist in Mahler’s _Das Lied von der Erde_ with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, and the symphonies of Detroit, Atlanta, and Houston; and in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Dallas Symphony, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood. Mr. Thomas created the role of Lazarus in the world premiere of _The Gospel According to the Other Mary_, a passion oratorio by John Adams and Peter Sellars, and has performed the work at English National Opera, Ravinia Festival, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, which commissioned it.

Mr. Thomas is an alumnus of the young artist programs at the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, Florida Grand Opera, and Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and has received prizes from the George London Foundation for Singers, Liederkranz Foundation, Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, and Richard Tucker Music Foundation. In 2010, he swept the Grand Prize, Audience Prize, and Tenor Prize of the Francisco Viñas Competition in Barcelona, Spain.

Future seasons include appearances in Berlin, London, Toronto, Chicago, Houston, New York, and Washington, D.C.