Daniel Norman is a British tenor known for his compelling stage presence and versatility across a range of repertoire.
He is highly regarded for his performances of Britten, and roles have included Peter Quint (The Turn of the Screw), Squeak and Red Whiskers (Billy Budd) for Glyndebourne; Rev. Horace Adams (Peter Grimes) for Opera North; Squeak for the English National Opera; Red Whiskers for Opera North and the Aldeburgh Festival; Bob Boles (Peter Grimes) at the St Endellion Festival and Captain Vere (Billy Budd) for the Central City Opera, Colorado.
Recent appearances have included Scaramuccio (Ariadne auf Naxos), Edmondo (Manon Lescaut), Spalanzani (Les contes d’Hoffmann) and Pirelli (Sweeney Todd) for the Opernhaus Zürich; Monostatos (Die Zauberflöte) for English National Opera; Moser (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg) and Sellem (The Rake’s Progress) for Glyndebourne; Basilio (Le nozze di Figaro) for Opera North and Opera Holland Park; Mime (Das Rheingold) for Oviedo Opera; Tanzmeister (Ariadne auf Naxos) for Opera North; Tinca and Gherardo (Il Trittico) for Welsh National Opera and Laca (Jenůfa) for Longborough Festival Opera.
He appears regularly in contemporary opera and has performed the role of Mao (Nixon in China) for Opera Boston, Staatsoper Hanover and in Verona and Electrician (Powder Her Face) in Vienna and Boston and in a Channel4 film adaptation. In Harrison Birtwistle's operas he has performed the role of Judas (The Last Supper) with the London Sinfonietta and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the role of Orpheus the Myth (The Mask of Orpheus) for the English National Opera.
In the 2026/27 season Daniel returns to the Opernhaus Zürich for further performances as Edmondo (Manon Lescaut) and to Garsington Opera as Bardolfo (Falstaff). He will also give the UK premiere of David Buckley’s opera Oracle with the BBC Concert Orchestra under Jérôme Kuhn.
On the concert platform he has appeared with conductors including Biondi, Gardner, Harding, Noseda and Rattle and he has performed at the BBC Proms and at the Three Choirs, Aldeburgh and Oxford International Song Festivals.
Recordings include four volumes of the Hyperion Schubert Edition with Graham Johnson; a Grammy nominated recording of Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 with the Minnesota Orchestra/Vänskä; Maintop (Billy Budd) and Slender (Sir John in Love) with the Northern Sinfonia/Hickox; Brett Dean’s Winter Songs with the Berlin Philharmonic Wind Quintet; Hugh Wood’s Comus with the BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sir Andrew Davis and Rimenes in Arne’s Artaxerxes with the Classical Opera Company/Page. His recordings of Britten's music also include Winter Words, Who Are These Children?, the Seven Sonnets of Michelangelo, Canticles and The Holy Sonnets of John Donne.
He was a choral scholar at New College, Oxford, where he read Engineering. He later studied in the US and Canada, and at the Royal Academy of Music.
This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced.
The Marriage of Figaro
Opera North (2026)
Daniel Norman’s middle‑aged Jack‑the‑Laddishness is entertainingly brash
Catriona Graham, The Opera Critic
Daniel Norman as Basilio and Jamie Woollard as Antonio bring liveliness and vocal quality in spades
Robert Beale, The Arts Desk
Daniel Norman was a sprightly Basilio
Charles Hutchinson, charleshutchpress
Peter Grimes (Horace Adams)
Opera North (2026)
Daniel Norman is so convincing as an obsequious Reverend that it’s hard to imagine him as the saloon bar Basilio in the company’s current Marriage of Figaro.”-
musicOMH
Daniel Norman, as The Rector, Mr Adams, is a comically ineffectual parson with faults of his own such as an eye for young women and a liking for drink – another nice piece of character acting from the Don Basilio in The Marriage of Figaro, touring with this opera
Robert Beale, The Arts Desk
Daniel Norman chalks up another of his gallery of eccentrics as the rector
Ron Simpson, The Reviews Hub
Manon (Guillot)
Opernhaus Zürich, October 2025
Andrew Moore as Brétigny and Daniel Norman as Guillot, both finely portrayed. Their performances were more than mere caricatures and their presence enriched the narrative and added vital texture to the world around the central couple.
OperaDiary
The two men also vying for Manon's affections, Guillot de Morfontaine, sung by Daniel Norman, and De Brétigny, sung by Andrew Moore, also made their role debuts and left nothing to be desired in terms of both their singing and acting.
Das OpernMagazin
Les Contes d’Hoffmann
Opernhaus Zürich - 28/06/2025
"Daniel Norman plays a wonderfully cunning and bumbling Spalanzani, the ‘father’ of Olympia."
oper-aktuell, Kaspar Sannemann
Manon Lescaut (Edmondo)
Opernhaus Zürich, February 2025
Daniel Norman shines in the role of Edmondo
Online Merker
Daniel Norman enchants with his bright tenor as Edmondo
Peter Wäch, Platform J
"Led by Edmondo, agile and alert, played by Daniel Norman" [sic]
Rauchzeichen Magazine
Daniel Norman, also making his role debut, leads a colorful and wildly costumed orchestra as Edmondo (the Zurich Opera Chorus, rehearsed by Ernst Raffelsberger, sings superbly and waves their instruments around in a ghostly, carnival-like manner). Norman sings this Edmondo excellently, with a wonderfully controlled voice. (translated)
Kaaspar Sannemann, Oper Aktuell
Mao, Nixon in China
Staatstheater Hannover
The exceptional ensemble of singers, entrusted with predominantly demanding vocal tasks, is led by Daniel Norman, who portrays the challenging and physically demanding role of Mao Tse-tung with verve and an almost profound delight in the Mephistophelian demeanour of the great leader.
Achim Dombrowski, Opera Online
Much applause also for Daniel Norman as the lasciviously lively Mao...
Henning Queren, Neue Presse
The fact that it works so well is also due to the fabulous singers... Daniel Norman as the fanatical but also funny Mao...
Ute Schalz-Laurenze, Neue Musikzeitung
Daniel Norman as Mao is a fanatical character, but he also possesses almost comical traits. His aria "We no longer need Confucius" has a completely different character compared to Nixon's aria. In this case, someone is loudly proclaiming their clichéd phrases of statecraft, which creates an aggressive tone. Daniel Norman's tenor voice is biting, sharp, and cutting. However, in the third act, he was also able to beautifully showcase his lyrical abilities.
Achim Riehn, Gesellschaft der Freunde des Opernhauses Hannover e.V. (GFO)
...Daniel Norman equips Mao with a beautiful tenor voice...
Dominik Lapp, kulturfeder.de
The tenor Daniel Norman succeeded exceptionally well in showing this aspect of the man alongside an equally vivid representation of him as an infirm, ailing man, dependent on artificial respiration.
Jurgen Gahre, Opera Magazine
Judas, The Last Supper (Harrison Birtwistle)
BBC Scottish Symphony
I was deeply moved by Daniel Norman’s diffident and remorseful portrayal
Kate Molleson, The Guardian
Britten 'Winter Words'
CD for BIS
Daniel Norman’s version has that lovely early-career freshness about the sound particularly when the top of the voice opens out. He combines it with something of Philip Langridge’s sinuous strength
Kate Kennedy, BBC Building a Library
To See the Invisible (Emily Howard chamber opera premiere)
Aldeburgh Festival
Daniel Norman made a memorable cactus fanatic, commanding centre stage with his powerful tenor enthusing over the long Latin name of his favourite plant
Charlotte Valori, Bachtrack
Monostatos, The Magic Flute
English National Opera
even though he is a petty, nasty villain, the other tenor, Daniel Norman, is just as persuasive as Monostatos
Neil Fisher, The Times
Daniel Norman made a funny yet nasty Monastatos, combining physical comedy with a real dramatic sense of threat
Planet Hugill
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