In Season 2015-16, bass-baritone Paul Whelan sings the role of Sarastro Die Zauberflöte for the first time at Hawaii Opera Theatre, and continues to Geneva to join the Grand Theatre for their new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream as Quince. He relocates to Gothenburg Opera in early 2016 where he sings the role of Claudio Hamlet in a new production by Stephen Langridge.
Recent highlights include Daland Der fliegende Holländer at Hawaii Opera Theatre, Giorgio I Puritani at Boston Lyric Opera and Victorian Opera, and his role debuts as Nick Shadow The Rake’s Progress for Opera New Zealand, Banco Macbeth at Opera North in the UK, and Titurel Parsifal with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons.
Other past successes include the artist’s return to Opera Australia as Ramfis Aida, and an appearance at Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago for Beethoven’s Mass in C. He sang Jesus in fully staged performances of St. Matthew Passion in Brisbane, and appeared as Seneca in a new production of L’Incoronazione di Poppea in Lille, Dijon and at Glyndebourne Festival Opera. Other notable appearances include Theseus in the new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for English National Opera, Collatinus The Rape of Lucretia for Opera Norway as well as Bach’s St. Matthew Passion for the Leeds International Concert Season. Additionally he appeared at Glyndebourne in two other roles: Claggart in their new production of Billy Budd, and Alidoro La Cenerentola. He sang his first Wotan in Das Rheingold with the Auckland Philharmonic to critical acclaim. Read more
