Grant Doyle

Baritone

"The always likeable Grant Doyle blossoms with star quality"

Daily Telegraph

"Grant Doyle as Zurga had a commanding, anchored presence and sang the role beautifully"

Opera Magazine

"Grant Doyle’s charismatic Figaro is a delight"

The Stage

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Born in Adelaide, Grant Doyle studied at the Royal College of Music in London and was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists Programme at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

For the Royal Opera House he has performed Ping Turandot, Harlequin Ariadne auf Naxos, Schaunard La bohème and Billy Wayne Smith in Anna Nicole.

Other opera credits include Yeletsky Queen of Spades, Zurga Les pêcheurs de perles, Robert Iolanta and Forester The Cunning Little Vixen (Opera Holland Park); Don Giovanni, Forester The Cunning Little Vixen, Enric The Skating Rink (Garsington Opera); Abraham Clemency (Scottish Opera), Robin Oakapple Ruddigore (Opera North), Schaunard La bohème (Glyndebourne), Marcello La bohème at the Royal Albert Hall (Raymond Gubbay), Demetrius A Midsummers Night’s Dream (Madrid & Berlin), Ned Keene Peter Grimes (Gran Canaria), Vater/Andervater Coraline (Zurich) and Mike in John Adams’ I Was Looking at the Ceiling (Rome). For English Touring Opera he has sung the title role in The Barber of Seville, Orestes in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Tauride, Marcello La bohème, Hector King Priam, Nello in Pia de’ Tolomei, Tiridate in Radamisto, and Macbeth.

For State Opera of South Australia, Grant Doyle has performed Don Giovanni, Count Le nozze di Figaro, Zurga Les pêcheurs de perles, and Starbuck in Jake Heggie’s Moby Dick (Adelaide) as well as Orestes in Iphigénie en Tauride (Pinchgut Opera Sydney).

As a busy concert soloist, Grant Doyle has performed with the Philharmonia Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Copenhagen Philharmonic Bournemouth Symphony, and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras as well as The Bach Choir in works including Carmina Burana, Fauré Requiem, Judas Maccabeus, Glagolitic Mass, Brahms German Requiem, Britten War Requiem, A Child of Our Time, Messiah and Christus in the St John Passion and St Matthew Passion.

This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced.

La Cenerentola (Don Magnifico)

Nevill Holt Opera, June 2023

The best of the principals, though, is Grant Doyle’s expertly crafted Don Magnifico. He alone maintains a three-dimensional character –a thoroughly dislikable one, but he’s meant to be –thus fulfilling the old dictum that comedy is a serious business; the reason Doyle is funny is that he plays the wicked stepfather for real. Spot-on diction too.

George Hall, The Stage

...Doyle is simply the class act of the evening. His own baritone is immensely rich and secure, and he captures the humorous and sinister aspects of the character in equal measure. When he claims his third daughter has died, it is amusing to see him clutch a vase on the mantlepiece as he pretends it is an urn containing her ashes. At the same time, when he rips a page from Alidoro’s book that refers to this child and throws it in the fire, it is a sign to Angelina that she really is worth more to him dead than alive.

Sam Smith, MusicOMH

The Barber of Seville (Dr Bartolo)

Nevill Holt Opera, June 2022

Grant Doyle delivers a solidly crafted Bartolo in the traditional mould.

George Hall, Opera Now

The Cunning Little Vixen (Forester)

Opera Holland Park, July 2021

Grant Doyle also excelled as the Forester...He convincingly embodied the weariness and elegiac qualities of the role, and sang with remarkable clarity of diction

Benjamin Poore, Operawire

Grant Doyle's bluff, resonant Forester has the stage presence to match her.

Erica Jeale, The Guardian

Seeing and hearing Grant Doyle as the Forester was a treat, not least in that final Hymn to Nature. Doyle paced his assumption of the role as if his every contribution in the opera led to those final uplifting moments

C Clarke, Seen and Heard International

Iolanta (Robert)

Opera Holland Park, July 2019

OHP has mounted some triumphs in the past, but none surely eclipses this for sheer musical excellence...Grant Doyle was a strong Robert

Colin Clarke, Seen and Heard International

The quality runs right through the cast... [including] Grant Doyle’s heroic Robert

Alexandra Coghlan, The Arts Desk ****

Grant Doyle [is] in good form as Robert

Barry Millington, Evening Standard ****

Grant Doyle is in superb voice as Robert

Peter Reed, Classical Source *****

Grant Doyle was a persuasive Robert

Claire Seymour, Opera Today

Doyle delivered his aria in praise of his beloved Mathilde with an intensity which brought the house down

Planet Hugill

[Grant] Doyle’s noble baritone

Bachtrack

[A] strong portrayal of the Duke of Burgundy by Grant Doyle

Mark Ronan, The Article

Macbeth (title role)

English Touring Opera, Spring 2019

Doyle’s declamatory way with the opening scenes gives way to a fierce, expressive lyricism as guilt and isolation begin to corrode both Macbeth’s mind and his sense of his own integrity

Tim Ashley, The Guardian ****

[Grant Doyle] sings the role with such unforced strength and, in his closing aria, stylish musicianship that audiences round the country should count themselves lucky to have him

Richard Fairman, Financial Times ****

Grant Doyle finds real depth of feeling for Macbeth's despairing final moments

Nick Kimberley, Evening Standard ****

Grant Doyle carried the role on vibrant, forthright tone and, having somehow retained an air of humanity throughout the murder and mayhem, filled Pietà, rispetto, amore with regret

Yehuda Shapiro, Opera Magazine

Grant Doyle combines Macbeth’s monstrous pessimism, his courage and agonising moments of self-knowledge with disarming directness. This is a commanding performance, and Doyle has the vocal resources and dark Italianate inscrutability to give the role full measure

Peter Reed, Classical Source

Grant Doyle was a forceful, multi-faceted Macbeth, capturing the early torment and moral decline with subtlety. Vocally he was imposing... he brought an appropriate sensitivity and drama to key moments, most noticeably the banquet scene and the finale

Dominic Lowe, Bachtrack ****

Grant Doyle rages and rampages as Macbeth

Claire Seymour, Opera Today

Grant Doyle carries the role with a vibrant, forthright tone and, retaining an air of humanity, fills his final aria with regret rather than self-pity.

The Stage

Grant Doyle finds a fine lyricism in the last act

Ron Simpson, TheReviewsHub

Radamisto (Tiridate)

English Touring Opera, Autumn 2018

The cruel rasp of Grant Doyle's Tiridate underlines the sheer physicality of this performance

Michael Church, The Independent ****

Grant Doyle threatens to overturn the opera’s moral compass by endowing the old-world, male chauvinistic pig Tiridate with surpassing power

Richard Fairman, Financial Times

the Armenian king Tiridate, Grant Doyle, appropriately venomous

Richard Morrison, The Times ****

Grant Doyle is a rough and gruff villain

Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph ****

Individual cast members have a lot to offer... Grant Doyle making a vigorous villain as Tiridate

George Hall, The Stage ****

The Skating Rink (Enric)

Garsington Opera, world premiere 5 July 2018

As Enric, Grant Doyle is a fully rounded, sympathetic character

Andrew Clements, The Guardian

Garsington has assembled a resourceful cast. Grant Doyle [is] excellent as one of the main suspects, civil servant Enric

Richard Fairman, Financial Times

Grant Doyle is heartbreaking as lumpen embezzler Enric, a little man who really does gaze at the stars with his feet in the gutter

Charlotte Valori, Bachtrack *****

Garsington has assembled a great cast. The focus is Grant Doyle as Enric. He sings with burnished tone throughout and is dramatically effective

Alexander Campbell, Classical Source *****

The cast is consistently strong, with standouts…especially [from] Grant Doyle as cheesy, desperate Enric

George Hall, The Stage

As the final narrator Enric, Grant Doyle was particularly impressive having taken on the role at relatively short notice... Doyle gave a beautifully crafted, multilayered performance which really brought the character alive and, surprisingly, made us begin to sympathise with him

Robert Hugill ****

Grant Doyle, replacing an ailing Neal Davies as Enric for all performances, really grows in stature as the evening progresses as his expansive baritone comes into play to carry off the largest role with aplomb

Sam Smith, Music OMH ****

The Pearl Fishers (Zurga)

State Opera of South Australia, 2018

Grant Doyle is commanding as Zurga the king pearler, reprising the role from last year with Opera Queensland

Graham Strahle, The Australian

A warm reception was extended to Grant Doyle, who performed superbly in the role of Zurga, a jealous man driven to mad decisions

Greg Elliott, InDaily

Doyle's resonant voice gives gravitas to his character as he takes us on an emotionally charged roller coaster ride through Zurga's mood swings. Zurga's ultimate understanding and change of heart is a profound moment in Doyle's hands...Doyle and Goodwin make a sensational pairing, with some intense interactions. Their duet, Au fond du temple saint (In the depths of the temple), is a showstopper

Barry Lenny, Broadway World

From the House of the Dead (Čekunov)

Royal Opera House, 2018

“This gallery of characterizations also included hard-working performances from Grant Doyle (Čekunov)”

John Allison, Opera magazine

Dardanus (Teucer)

English Touring Opera, Autumn 2017

Grant Doyle is first-class

David Mellor, The Daily Mail

Grant Doyle’s grandly emphatic Teucer

George Hall, The Stage

Grant Doyle, as Teucer, evoked nobility and desperation in equal measure

Benjamin Poore, Bachtrack

Opera

Bizet

Carmen (Escamillo)
Les pêcheurs de perles (Zurga)

Britten

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Demetrius)
Albert Herring (Sid)
Owen Wingrave (Owen Wingrave)
Peter Grimes (Ned Keene)
The Rape of Lucretia (Tarquinius)

Debussy

Pelléas et Mélisande (Pelléas)

Donizetti

Don Pasquale (Malatesta)
Il Campanello di notte (Enrico)
L'elisir d'amore (Belcore)

Gilbert & Sullivan

Ruddigore (Robin Oakapple/Sir Ruthven)
Trial By Jury (The Learned Judge)

Heggie

Moby Dick (Starbuck)

Janáček

The Adventures of Mr Broucek (The Poet)
Cunning Little Vixen (The Forester)

Korngold

Die Tote Stadt (Frank/Fritz)

Leoncavallo

I Pagliacci (Silvio)

MacMillan

Clemency (Abraham)

Massenet

Cendrillon (Pandolfe)
Manon (Lescaut)
Werther (Albert)

Maw

Sophie's Choice (Nathan)

Mozart

Die Zauberflöte (Papageno)
Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni)
Le nozze di Figaro (Count Almaviva)

Picker

Fantastic Mr Fox (Fantastic Mr Fox)

Purcell

Dido and Aeneas (Aeneas)

Puccini

La Bohème (Marcello)
Madama Butterfly (Sharpless)
Turandot (Ping)

Rossini

La Cenerentola (Dandini)
The Barber of Seville (Figaro)

Strauss

Ariadne auf Naxos (Harlekin)
Capriccio (Olivier)
Die Frau ohne Schatten (Der Einäugige)

Tchaikovsky

Eugene Onegin (Eugene Onegin)
Pique Dame (Prince Yeletsky)

Thomas

Hamlet (Hamlet)

Verdi

Falstaff (Ford)

Wolf-Ferrari

The Jewels of the Madonna (Rafaele)

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