Bryn Terfel

Born in North Wales in 1965, Bryn Terfel enters London’s Guildhall School of Music in 1984, studying first with Arthur Reckless and later with Rudolf Piernay. In 1988 he wins the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Scholarship and the following year graduates from the Guildhall, receiving the school’s Gold Medal. Shortly after that he represents Wales in the “Singer of the World” Competition in Cardiff and launches his career by winning the lieder prize

1990
Opera debut as Guglielmo (Così fan tutte) and Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) at Welsh National Opera; CD release of Monteverdi’s Vespers of the Blessed Virgin conducted by John Eliot Gardiner (Record Academy Prize, Japan, Stella d’oro 1991)

1991
English National Opera debut and US debut at Santa Fe as Figaro; sings Jochanaan in Deutsche Grammophon release of Strauss’s Salome under Giuseppe Sinopoli (Edison Award, Grand Prix de la Nouvelle Aca­dé­mie, Orphée d’or, Stella d’argento 1992)

1992
Breakthrough Salzburg Festival debut as Jochanaan; Covent Garden debut as Masetto (Don Giovanni); first artist to receive the Critics’ Circle Award for the most important contribution to British musical life; sings Angelotti in DG release of Puccini’s Tosca under Sinopoli (Record Academy Prize, Japan, 1992, CD Compact, Stella d’argento 1993); named “Young Singer of the Year” by Gramophone magazine

1993
Signs first exclusive contract with Deut­sche Grammophon; triumphant Vienna State Opera debut as Figaro; sings Ford in Falstaff at Welsh National Opera; named “New­comer of the Year” at the Internatio­nal Clas­si­cal Music Awards; takes part in the Wagner Gala Concert on New Year’s Eve with Claudio Abbado and the Berliner Philharmoniker, recorded live by Deutsche Grammophon

1994
Appears as Figaro at Covent Garden and at Metropolitan debut; first recitals in London’s Wigmore Hall, at the Salzburg Festi­val and in Florence; US recital debut in New York’s Alice Tully Hall; soloist at the “Last Night of the Proms”; sings Figaro in Archiv Produk­tion CD (Edison Award, Grand Prix de la Nouvelle Académie 1995) and video release conducted by John Eliot Gardiner; sings Baron Mirko Zeta in CD release of Lehár’s Merry Widow under Gardiner (Diapason d’or 1995); release of the CD An die Musik with Schubert songs accompanied by Malcolm Martineau (Gra­mophone Award 1995)

1995
Leporello in Don Giovanni at the Met; Leporello and Figaro at the Salzburg Festival; Jochanaan at Covent Garden; recital debut at La Scala, Milan; CD release of The Vaga­bond with songs by Vaughan Williams, Butterworth, Finzi and Ireland (Prix Caecilia 1995, Edison Award, Gramophone Award 1996)

1996
Leporello at Salzburg; debut recital at New York’s Carnegie Hall; CD releases include opera arias under James Levine (Grammy Award 1996) and Something Wonderful with songs by Rodgers & Hammerstein (Gramophone Award 1997)

1997
La Scala debut as Figaro; CD release of Handel arias under Sir Charles Mackerras

1998
Hollywood Bowl debut; CD releases include Leporello (Don Giovanni) under Abbado, Mephistopheles in Berlioz’s Damnation de Faust conducted by Myung-Whun Chung, requiems by Fauré and Duruflé also under Chung (Classical Brit Award 2000) and If Ever I Would Leave You, a collection of famous Broadway songs

1999
Appears as Falstaff at the Sydney Opera House, Chicago Lyric Opera and the re-opening of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; sings Don Giovanni for the first time in Paris; sings the title role of Handel’s Saul under Mackerras at the Edinburgh Festival; concert tour of Australia and New Zealand; sings Nick Shadow in CD release of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress under Gardiner (Grammy Award 2000)

2000
Met appearances as Lindorf/Coppelius/Dr. Miracle/Dapertutto in Les Contes d’Hoffmann and as Don Giovanni; Nick Shadow at the San Francisco Opera; sings Berlioz’s Mephi­stopheles at the Edinburgh Festival; inaugural season of Bryn Terfel’s Faenol Festi­val in North Wales; CD releases: We’ll Keep a Welcome – “the Welsh Album” – and a record­ing of Schumann lieder

2001
Sings Don Giovanni at the Vienna State Opera, Figaro in Tokyo, Figaro and Falstaff in Munich, Falstaff at the Salzburg Festival; concert and recital tour of the Far East; re­cords Falstaff with Abbado (Record Aca­de­my Prize, Japan, 2001, Echo Award, Germany, 2002); to celebrate the 100th anni­versary of the Nobel Prize performs with Anne Sofie von Otter before an illu­s­trious audience of numerous Nobel Prize winners in Stockholm

2002
Appearances include Don Giovanni at Covent Garden, Falstaff at the Metropolitan Opera and the Bavarian State Opera, four roles in Les Contes d’Hoff­mann at the Paris Opéra-Bastille and Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd (debut) at the Chicago Ly­ric Opera; his Faenol Festival wins the Welsh Tourism Award as “Greatest Show in Wales – Event of the Year” 2001; CD release of arias by Wagner under Abbado (Prix Caecilia, 2003)

2003
Concert with Abbado at the Lucerne Festival; Faenol Festival includes an opera gala with José Carreras; “Proms in the Park” in London’s Hyde Park; Falstaff at Covent Garden and the Vienna State Opera; awarded a CBE for services to opera in the Queen’s New Year Honours list; his platinum-selling new album (recorded in March) with songs and spirituals, arias and duets, featur­ing Sissel and Andrea Bocelli, is released on CD and SACD in autumn 2003 and receives the 2004 Classical Brit Award “Album of the Year”. DVD release Bryn Terfel live in concert

2004
Named “Male Artist of the Year” at the 5th annual Classical Brit Awards. Don Giovanni at Chicago Lyric Opera, further perfor­mances of Falstaff in Vienna, Jochanaan at the Metropolitan and his role debut as Mephistopheles in a new production of Gounod’s Faust at Covent Garden; sings his first Wotan in Das Rheingold in a new production at Covent Garden of Wagner’s Ring; recital tour of the US and Canada

2005
Sensational debut as Wotan in Die Walküre in Covent Garden’s new Ring production; appears with Plácido Domingo in an acclaimed concertante production of Die Walküre at the BBC Proms. Falstaff in debuts at Houston Grand Opera and Los Angeles Opera as well as reprising the role at the Met. Hosts the Faenol Festival of Wales and appears with Andrea Bocelli before a crowd of 12,000; part of the festival – “Songs of Inspiration” – is recorded by the BBC for the popular television programme “Songs of Praise”. Concert with Renée Fleming at Montreal’s Place des Arts. CD releases include Silent Noon, a second anthology of English songs (with pianist Malcolm Martineau), Simple Gifts with the London Symphony Orchestra under Barry Wordsworth and, on DVD, Salome from the Metropolitan with Karita Mattila, conducted by Valery Gergiev, and Don Giovanni also from the Metropolitan under James Levine

2006
Sings the title role of Wagner’s Der flie­gende Holländer with Welsh National Opera and re­turns to Covent Garden as Scarpia in Tosca. Concert appearances include Kiev, Moscow, London and Montreal, and at the Llangollen and Faenol Festivals, the latter together with Angela Gheorghiu and Rolando Villazón; extensive tour to the Far East and Australia. Awarded the Shakespeare Prize by the Alfred Toepfer Stiftung, Hamburg for his “outstanding contributions to European cultural heritage in the English-speaking countries in Europe”. CD releases: Tutto Mozart! – favourites with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra under Sir Charles Mackerras and The Mozart Album – a selection of arias sung by Deutsche Grammophon’s star singers