BRYN TERFEL – A BIOGRAPHICAL TIMELINE
“A born communicator who loves words as much as music, he has reached out to audiences way beyond the rarefied temples of opera house and recital hall . . .”
The Times (London)
Born in North Wales in 1965, Bryn Terfel entered London’s Guildhall School of Music in 1984, studying first with Arthur Reckless and later with Rudolf Piernay. In 1988 he won the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Scholarship and the following year graduated from the Guildhall, receiving the school’s Gold Medal. Shortly after that he represented Wales in the “Singer of the World” Competition in Cardiff and launched his career by winning the lieder prize.
1990Opera debut as Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) and Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) at Welsh National Opera; release of Monteverdi’s Vespers of the Blessed Virgin conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner
1991English National Opera debut and US debut at Santa Fe as Figaro; release: Jochanaan in Strauss’s Salome under Giuseppe Sinopoli
1992Breakthrough Salzburg Festival debut as Jochanaan; Covent Garden debut as Masetto (Don Giovanni); first artist to receive the Critics’ Circle Award for the most important contribution to British musical life; release: Angelotti in Puccini’s Tosca; named “Young Singer of the Year” by Gramophone
1993Signs exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon; triumphant Vienna State Opera debut as Figaro; sings Ford in Falstaff at Welsh National Opera; “Newcomer of the Year” at the International Classical Music Awards; participates in the Wagner Gala Concert on New Year’s Eve with Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker
1994Figaro at Covent Garden and at his Metropolitan debut; first recitals in London’s Wigmore Hall, at the Salzburg Festival and in Florence; US recital debut in New York’s Alice Tully Hall; soloist at the “Last Night of the Proms”. Releases: Figaro with Gardiner, Baron Mirko Zeta in Lehár’s Merry Widow under Gardiner; An die Musik – Schubert songs with pianist Malcolm Martineau (Gramophone Award)
1995Leporello in Don Giovanni at the Met; Leporello and Figaro at the Salzburg Festival; Jochanaan at Covent Garden; recital debut at La Scala. Release of The Vagabond – songs by Vaughan Williams, Butterworth, Finzi and Ireland (Prix Caecilia, Edison Award, Gramophone Award)
1996Debut recital at New York’s Carnegie Hall; releases include opera arias under James Levine (Grammy®) and Something Wonderful with songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein (Gramophone Award)
1997La Scala opera debut as Figaro; release of Handel arias under Sir Charles Mackerras
1998Hollywood Bowl debut. Releases: Leporello (Don Giovanni) under Abbado, Mephi-stopheles (Berlioz’s Damnation de Faust) with Myung-Whun Chung, requiems by Fauré and Duruflé also under Chung (Classical Brit Award) and If Ever I Would Leave You, a collection of famous Broadway songs
1999Falstaff at Sydney Opera House, Chicago Lyric Opera and the re-opening of Covent Garden; debut as Don Giovanni in Paris; title role in Handel’s Saul under Mackerras at the Edinburgh Festival; release: Nick Shadow in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress under Gardiner (Grammy®)
2000Met appearances in Les Contes d’Hoffmann (four roles) and as Don Giovanni; Nick Shadow at San Francisco Opera; Mephistopheles at the Edinburgh Festival; first Faenol Festival (his own festival held annually in North Wales). Releases: his Welsh Album We’ll Keep a Welcome and Schumann lieder
2001Don Giovanni in Vienna, Figaro in Tokyo, Figaro and Falstaff in Munich, Falstaff at the Salzburg Festival; tour of the Far East. Release: Falstaff with Abbado (Tokyo’s Record Academy Prize, Echo Award)
2002Don Giovanni at Covent Garden, Falstaff at the Met and Bavarian State Opera, four roles in Les Contes d’Hoffmann in Paris, Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd (debut) in Chicago; his Faenol Festival wins the Welsh Tourism Award as “Greatest Show in Wales – Event of the Year 2001”. Release of Wagner arias (Prix Caecilia)
2003Concert with Abbado at the Lucerne Festival; Faenol Festival includes an opera gala with José Carreras. Awarded a CBE for services to opera in the Queen’s New Year Honours list. Release of his platinum-selling album Bryn Terfel Sings Favourites with Sissel and Andrea Bocelli (Classical Brit Award). DVD release: Bryn Terfel Live in Concert
2004“Male Artist of the Year” at the Classical Brit Awards. Debut as Wotan in Das Rheingold in Covent Garden’s new Ring production
2005Debut as Wotan in Die Walküre at Covent Garden; appears with Plácido Domingo in Die Walküre (concert version) at the BBC Proms. Falstaff in debuts in Houston and Los Angeles. Releases: Silent Noon, a second anthology of English songs, Simple Gifts (Grammy®); on DVD: Don Giovanni from the Met under Levine
2006Title role in Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer with Welsh National Opera and Scarpia in Tosca at Covent Garden. Appears at the BBC Proms Concert where he is awarded The Queen’s Medal for Music by Elizabeth II. Receives the Shakespeare Prize from the Alfred Toepfer Stiftung, Hamburg for his “outstanding contributions to European cultural heritage in the English-speaking countries in Europe” and an Echo Award as “Singer of the Year”. Releases include Tutto Mozart! – favourites with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Mackerras
2007Title roles in Don Giovanni and Falstaff in Vienna and Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi at Covent Garden; Sweeney Todd at London’s Royal Festival Hall (concert performance); Figaro at the Met. Opera arias in Munich, Hamburg and Dresden; a concert at the Tower of London
2008One of the main highlights of the year is his appearance at the “Last Night of the Proms” in London’s Royal Albert Hall. Release of Terfel’s recording of favourite folksongs from the British Isles with the London Voices, London Symphony Orchestra and Barry Wordsworth
2009Engagements at Covent Garden as Scarpia and the Dutchman, the latter also at the Bavarian State Opera; performs opera arias with Rolando Villazón and the Prague Philharmonia at the Paris Théâtre des Champs-Élysées; further concerts in the Czech Republic, the USA, UK and New Zealand; festival appearances include Bergen, Verbier and Edinburgh
2010Among this year’s highlights are Wotan in Das Rheingold in Robert Lepage’s new production of Wagner’s Ring at the Metropolitan, Falstaff at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Scarpia at the Met, Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger for Welsh National Opera, a Bad Boys European concert tour, an opera gala at his Faenol Festival with the WNO Orchestra and singers including Rolando Villazón, and a US recital tour with Malcolm Martineau. CD releases include his recording (with Paul Daniel conducting the Swedish RSO) of Bad Boys – characters from opera and musicals ranging from Mozart and Beethoven to Weill and Sondheim – as well as an album of Carols & Christmas Songs
2011Plans include Wotan in Die Walküre in the new Met Ring and selected scenes from Wagner with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen
10/2010
This biography was provided by the artist or their representative.
