Baritone Alan Opie has appeared as a regular guest at the Metropolitan Opera New York, La Scala, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Santa Fe Festival, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, English National Opera and Royal Opera House Covent Garden. He has also sung at the Bayreuth Festival singing Beckmesser – a role also repeated in Berlin, Amsterdam, Munich, Vienna and Turin. At ENO he was nominated for the ‘Outstanding Achievement in Opera’ Olivier Award for his performance of Falstaff.
His extensive concert work has included performances of Mendelssohn’s Elijah in San Francisco and Dallas; Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast in Dallas, Denver and Carnegie Hall; Britten’s War Requiem in Washington; Balstrode in Peter Grimes with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Accademia di Santa Cecilia and in San Francisco; Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony in Los Angeles; Elgar’s The Kingdom with the Halle Orchestra; Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with the Royal Scottish National Symphony; King Olav with the Bergen Symphony Orchestra; and the Apostles at the Proms.
Alan Opie has recorded for CBS, EMI, Hyperion, Chandos, and Decca. Releases include “Alan Opie Sings Bel Canto Arias”, Britten’s Gloriana, Albert Herring, Peter Grimes for which he received a Grammy Award, Death in Venice and The Rape of Lucretia; the title role in Dallapiccola’s Ulisse; Tonio in I Pagliacci; Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor; Smirnov in Walton’s The Bear, Carlo in Ernani, di Luna in Il Trovatore, the title role in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Beckmesser in Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg under Sir Georg Solti for which he received his second Grammy award.
Alan Opie sang the title role in The Death of Klinghoffer at the Metropolitan Opera and recently returned there to sing Frank Die Fledermaus, Arbace Idomeneo and Gamekeeper Rusalka. Recent roles for English National Opera include Germont, Doctor Bartolo, and creating the role of The Pathologist in Iain Bell’s new opera Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel.
In the 2019/20 season Alan Opie returns to the Metropolitan Opera to perform Le Bailli Werther.
Alan Opie received an OBE in the Queen’s birthday honours in 2013.
This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced.
'Opera for All' Gala
English National Opera (October 2018)
Individual contributions shone: ... Alan Opie as richly resonant and darkly nuanced as ever in a scene from Rigoletto
Henrietta Bredin
La Traviata
English National Opera (March 2018)
It is left to veteran Alan Opie as Giorgio Germont — astonishingly marking his 50th anniversary with the company — to show how words and music are all that is needed to make opera come alive.
Richard Fairman, Financial Times
it’s only when the stalwart Alan Opie comes on as Germont that we enter a believable operatic reality, in response to which Boyle raises her game. The duet-duel is sung with conviction
Michael Church, The Independent
It’s up to the baritone Alan Opie, whose performance as Alfredo’s authoritarian father celebrates 50 years with ENO, to inject some true vocal class, and to fly the flag for the idea that singing opera in English – ENO’s USP – is a good thing
Erica Jeal, The Guardian
Alan Opie rolled back the years to give us a persuasive, moving Germont...with an attention to the words and to the vocal line that should have been an object lesson for all on stage
Roger Parker, Opera Magazine
it takes an old pro, Alan Opie as Germont (marking 50 years with ENO), to get to the heart of Verdi… every word he sings matters
Neil Fisher, The Times
Alan Opie, now with the company for 50 years, gave a lesson in dignity and vocal warmth
Michael Tanner, The Spectator
Providing something close to a model of Verdi singing, however, is Alan Opie, in his 50th year with the company, as Alfredo’s father, Giorgio Germont. Binding notes and words together, he alone maintains the vocal standards in a principal role ENO needs to achieve; his performance is duly received with an ovation.
George Hall, The Stage
The Barber of Seville
English National Opera (October 2017)
The movement style is pure commedia dell’arte, and the cast includes experienced farceurs led with blustering self-importance and perfect timing by Alan Opie (this production’s original Figaro) as Bartolo.
Michael Church, The Independent
Alan Opie, who amazingly enough sang the title role when the production was new, has great fun in his role debut as the irascible Bartolo, and so do we.
Mark Valencia, What's on Stage
The 30th anniversary of the production was further celebrated by the appearance of Alan Opie, the original Figaro, in the role of Don Bartolo. Opie’s acting was terrific, and his voice remains in excellent shape.
Ditlev Rindom, Opera Magazine
Idomeneo
Metropolitan Opera (March 2017)
Alan Opie sang handsomely as a baritone Arbace.
George Loomis, Opera Magazine
Merry Widow
Metropolitan Opera (April 2015)
Alan Opie acted with class.
Zachary Woolfe, New York Times
Bass Alan Opie, as Baron Mirko Zeta, led the supporting characters. What little singing he had was effective, but his quick delivery of his lines kept the pace going.
George Grella, New York Classical Review
The Death of Klinghoffer
Metropolitan Opera (October 2014)
The baritone Alan Opie sings Leon with an elegant blend of poignancy and feistiness.
Anthony Tommasini, New York Times
The part of Leon was created by Sanford Sylvan, and is being sung at the Met by Alan Opie, whose baritone is much darker and rougher than Sylvan’s gentle, silky voice. Opie is devastating in the role. His voice carries gravitas and meaning, and he projects a sound that is very much like that of an old man singing. He is earthy, real, and from the moment he is first heard in Act II, bitterly standing down the terrorists for their cowardice, explosive.
George Grella, New York Classical Review
The eloquent baritone Alan Opie did have a great moment that presumably went a long way to silencing the evening’s protesters.
Manuela Hoelterhoff, Bloomberg
Peter Grimes
London Philharmonic Orchestra (September 2013)
Alan Opie’s Balstrode personified the old sea dog who had seen all, known all.
Hilary Finch, The Times ****
Gianni Schicchi
Opera Holland Park
Alan Opie gives a towering, gleeful performance in the title role.
Tim Ashley, The Guardian
Alan Opie is a world-class Schicchi.
Warwick Thompson, Metro
Alan Opie, needless to say, stole the show as Schicchi himself, dominating the action from his Jean Gabin-like arrival to the triumphant glee of his cackling farewell.
Mark Valencia, WhatsOnStage.com
There’s plenty of comic life in a cast dominated by Alan Opie’s worldly wise Schicchi.
Richard Morrison, The Times
La Traviata
Welsh National Opera (February 2014)
It was Alan Opie, in the role of Germont père, who showed suppleness: his words were given meaning and his voice was full of feeling.
Rian Evans, The Guardian
It was Georgio Germont, with Alan Opie’s interpretation as reliable and as musical as one might expect, who rang truest, and ultimately his sympathy for Violetta and guilt at his earlier intervention was palpable.
Rian Evans, Opera Magazine
Alan Opie Concert Repertoire
| BEETHOVEN | Choral Fantasia |
|---|---|
| BERG | Early Songs |
| BERLIOZ | L'enfance du Christ |
| BRAHMS | Ein Deutches Requiem |
| BRITTEN | War Requiem |
| BRUBECK | Beloved Son |
| DELIUS | Mass of Life Idyll Sea Drift |
| ELGAR | The Apostles |
| FAURE | Requiem |
| HANDEL | Samson Daphne & Apollo |
| HENZE | Neapolitan Songs |
| MAHLER | Kindertotenlieder |
| MENDELSSOHN | Elijah |
| MENOTTI | Martin's Lie (The Stranger) |
| ORFF | Carmina Burana |
| SCHOENBERG | Gurrelieder (Bauer) |
| STRAVINSKY | Pulcinella |
| TAYLOR-COLERIDGE | Hiawatha |
| TIPPETT | The vision of St. Augustine |
| VAUGHAN WILLIAMS | Dona Nobis Pacem Sea Symphony Sancta Civitas |
| WALTON | Belshazzar’s Feast |
Alan Opie Opera Repertoire
| BERIO | Outis (Outis) |
|---|---|
| BERKELEY | For You (Charles Frieth) |
| BERLIOZ | Benvenuto Cellini (Fieramosca) |
| BERNSTEIN | Candide (Pangloss) |
| BIRTWISTLE | The Mask of Orpheus (Aristeus I, Man) |
| BRITTEN | Albert Herring (Mr. Gedge) |
| BUSONI | Dr Faust (Faust) |
| CIMAROSA | Il Maestro di Capella (Il Maestro) |
| DALLAPICCOLA | Ulisse (Ulisse) |
| DONIZETTI | Maria Stuarda (Cecil) |
| GAY | The Beggar’s Opera (Peachum) |
| GILBERT & SULLIVAN | HMS Pinafore (Captain Corcoran) |
| IAIN HAMILTON | Anna Karenina (Stiva) |
| GETTY | Plump Jack (Falstaff) |
| HOLST | The Wandering Scholar (Louis) |
| HUMPERDINK | Die Königskinder (Der Spielmann) |
| JANACEK | Cunning Little Vixen (Forester) |
| KODALY | Hary Janos (Hary Janos) |
| LEONCAVALLO | I Pagliacci (Tonio) |
| MASSENET | Don Quichotte (Sancho Panza) |
| NICHOLAS MAW | Sophie’s Choice (The Doctor) |
| MOZART | Die Zauberflöte (Papageno) |
| OFFENBACH | La vie Parisienne (Baron) |
| PENDERECKI | Paradise Lost (Messias) |
| POULENC | The Carmelites (Marquis de la Force) |
| PROKOFIEV | Betrothal in a Monastery (Don Carlos) |
| PUCCINI | La Boheme (Marcello) |
| RODGERS | South Pacific (Emile de Becque) |
| ROSSINI | Il Barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro) |
| BRIGHT SHENG | Madame Mao (Chairman Mao) |
| SHOSTAKOVICH | The Nose (Kovalyov) |
| SMETANA | The Bartered Bride (Krusina) |
| J.STRAUSS | Die Fledermaus (Falke/Eisenstein) |
| R.STRAUSS | Der Rosenkavalier (Faninal) |
| STRAVINSKY | Renard (Renard) |
| TIPPETT | The Knot Garden (Mangus) |
| VAUGHAN WILLIAMS | Hugh the Drover (John) |
| VERDI | Ernani (Ernani) |
| WAGNER | Die Meistersinger (Beckmesser) |
| WALTON | The Bear (Smirnov) |
| WEILL | Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny (Trinity Moses) |
| ZEMLINSKY | Es war einmal (Kaspar) |
