David Stout has rapidly established himself as one of the UK’s most versatile baritones, with a formidable reputation not only for his vocal prowess, but also for his refined acting and charismatic stage presence.
In the 2021-22 season he sings Stárek Jenufa (Royal Opera House Covent Garden), Figaro Figaro Gets a Divorce (Theatre Magdeburg); Sancho Pança Don Quichotte (Staatstheater Darmstadt); and Barnaba La Gioconda (Grange Park Opera). He also performs Mozart’s Requiem with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in St Paul’s Cathedral.
Recent highlights include his role debuts as Ford Falstaff (Grange Park Opera) and Henry Kissinger Nixon in China (Scottish Opera); Bartolo Il barbiere di Siviglia (Den Norske Opera); Harašta The Cunning Little Vixen and Figaro Le nozze di Figaro (Welsh National Opera), Figaro Figaro Gets a Divorce and Leporello Don Giovanni (Grand Théâtre de Genève and Welsh National Opera); Sancho Pança Don Quichotte (Bregenzer Festspiele); and Dulcamara L’elisir d’amore (Theater St Gallen); and Bluebeard Bluebeard’s Castle with the English Symphony Orchestra.
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Falstaff (Ford)
Grange Park Opera, June 2021
David Stout’s Ford sings with a dark and muscular tone. We know that Ford is obsessive, but the focused baritone projected by Stout in the “jealousy” monologue amply confirms it.
John Allison, The Telegraph, 11 June 2021
David Stout’s sturdy Ford
Richard Morrison, The Times, 11 June 2021
David Stout makes an attractive, bumptious and properly irritable Ford
Fiona Maddocks, The Observer, 19 June 2021
David Stout as [Alice's] husband Ford sings out of his skin throughout, especially at the beginning of Act 2
David Mellor, Daily Mail, 12 June 2021
Grander still were the performances by most of the featured artists. David Stout sang a doughty Ford…
Mark Valencia, Opera Magazine, August 2021
Nixon in China (Henry Kissinger)
Scottish Opera, February 2020
The central roles are all impressively taken… Julia Sporsén’s infinitely touching Pat Nixon, David Stout’s canny Kissinger…
George Hall, The Stage, 19 February 2020
David Stout is blustery and self-regarding as the shady Henry Kissinger
Rowena Smith, The Guardian, 19 February 2020
There is cast-iron evenness among the key players. David Stout’s frenetic portrayal of the buffa-style Kissinger makes him a golden theatrical foil to the stoical composure of Nicholas Lester’s Chou.
Ken Walton, The Scotsman, 21 February 2020
The Cunning Little Vixen (Harasta)
Welsh National Opera, October 2019
...David Stout’s swaggering Poacher.
Rebecca Franks, The Times, 7 October 2019
The ‘flatter’ characters though, of course they offer less scope for individualisation or emotional/psychological depth, were well interpreted, notably by ... David Stout as an attractively transgressive Poacher...
Glyn Pursglove, 8 October 2019
There was much to enjoy too from Peter van Hulle’s lonely Schoolmaster, Wojtek Gierlach’s dignified Parson and David Stout’s unsentimental poacher.
David Truslove, Opera Today, 11 October 2019
Don Quichotte (Sancho Panza)
Bregenzer Festspiele, July 2019
In an opera in which both leads are bass-baritones, it isn’t easy to find a Sancho to complement his master, but Bregenz finds one. Earthily direct, David Stout is another class act, particularly when asked to play devil’s advocate, or to challenge mockery of the knight as an outmoded dinosaur. Besides singing a difficult role with mobile ease, Stout mines Henri Cain’s text splendidly
Opera Magazine, March 2021 (DVD review)
Gábor Bretz is a rich, soulful Don Quichotte and he’s matched for depth and warmth of baritone timbre by David Stout's Sancho
OperaJournal, 5 October 2020 (DVD review)
David Stout was just the sort of baritone needed as Sancho, combining a full, oaky voice with a the buffo charm of a character actor. It falls to Quichotte’s affable sidekick in the end to defend his master’s dreaming idealism from the cruel mockery of the crowd: “Riez, allez, riez” was a passionate rebuke in Stout’s rendition, tearing off his wig as he turned to berate the audience over the swelling of the orchestra.
Eric Simpson, OperaWire, 29 July 2019
Prokofiev's War and Peace (Dolokhov/Denisov/Napoleon/Raevsky)
Welsh National Opera at Royal Opera House, July 2019
Baritone David Stout, so good as both Dolokhov and Denisov in Part One, makes a charismatic impression as Napoleon during and after the Battle of Borodino. Indeed, if you’re looking for hooks on which to hang praise he and Bailey are joint gold medal winners.
Mark Valencia, Bachtrack, 24 July 2019
David Stout truly excelled, in terms of both characterisation and musicianship, as Dolokhov, Denisov, Raevsky and as a steel-backed Napoleon, his voice bursting with pride and defiance in the latter incarnation, but always appealing.
Claire Seymour, Opera Today, 24 July 2019
It is clearly impossible to go into each and every soloist given the roster of singers. But it would be unfair not to admire David Stout’s fine, rich voice in the part of Dolukov (and Denisov, and Napoleon, and Raevsky). Whichever hat he was wearing, he excelled.
Colin Clark, Seen and Heard International, 24 July 2019
David Stout's four roles are the combined stand-out of the evening: his seasoned-rake Dolokhov...
David Nice, The Arts Desk, 24 July 2019
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