Stuart Skelton

Stuart Skelton has sung the title role of Tristan und Isolde at the Festival d’Aix en Provence and Laca Klemen in a new production of Jenůfa at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, both conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. Additional successes in the world’s leading opera houses include Beethoven’s Fidelio at Teatro alla Scala conducted by Myung-Whun Chung in a production directed by Deborah Warner, Lohengrin at the Opéra national de Paris led by Philippe Jordan, Die Walküre at the Deutsche Oper Berlin under the baton of Donald Runnicles and at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden with Valery Gergiev leading the Mariinsky Orchestra, Jenůfa with the Bayerische Staatsoper conducted by Tomáš Hanus, Parsifal at the Opernhaus Zürich conducted by Daniele Gatti, Samson et Dalila at the Ópera National de Bordeaux, and Wozzeck for a Metropolitan Opera debut conducted by James Levine. Internationally renowned for his performances of Peter Grimes, he has sung the title role at English National Opera, Opera Australia, Opera de Oviedo, Tokyo’s New National Theatre, and in concert with the London Philharmonic under Vladimir Jurowski, with David Robertson and the Sydney Symphony, with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas, and with Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic at the BBC Proms and Edinburgh Festival.

The tenor made a much-anticipated debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Siegmund under the baton of Sir Antonio Pappano, and additional staged performances of Die Walküre were given at the Metropolitan Opera conducted by Philippe Jordan, in Budapest conducted by Ádám Fischer, and in Madrid conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado. Concert performances of Act One of Die Walküre have featured the tenor with Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Karina Canellakis, with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra led by Jaap van Zweden, San Francisco Symphony conducted by Simone Young, London Philharmonic Orchestra with Vladimir Jurowski, and with the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, among many others.

Stuart Skelton had the honor of opening the 2016-17 Metropolitan Opera season in the company’s new production of Tristan und Isolde conducted by Sir Simon Rattle; he first reached the zenith of the tenor repertoire – as Tristan – at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden in a new production by Mariusz Treliński, and he later assayed English language performances in a new production designed by Sir Anish Kapoor at the English National Opera directed by Daniel Kramer and conducted by Edward Gardner.

Stuart Skelton’s robust concert calendar has included performances of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Sir Andrew Davis and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Esa-Pekka Salonen and The MET Orchestra, and with Sir Simon Rattle and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the London Symphony Orchestra; Liszt’s Faust Symphony with Vladimir Jurowski and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin; Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Gianandrea Noseda and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra as well as with David Robertson and the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra; and the Ninth Symphony with Sir Antonio Pappano and Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia as well as with Franz Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra. He has performed Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with Sir Andrew Davis and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and with Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Stuart Skelton’s first solo album, Shining Knight, presents a program of Wagner, Griffes, and Barber accompanied by Asher Fisch and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra. His expansive recording catalogue also includes Tristan und Isolde with Asher Fisch and the West Australian Symphony Orchestra, Britten’s Peter Grimes, Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder and a Grammy Award-nominated Janáček Glagolitic Mass with Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, a Gramophone Magazine award-winning recording of Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Die Walküre with Sir Simon Rattle and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex with Sir John Eliot Gardiner conducting the London Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony, with Sir Simon Rattle and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, with Ádám Fischer and the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, and with Vladimir Ashkenazy and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.

He has contributed to four recordings of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen: with the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra led by Jaap van Zweden, with the Philharmoniker Hamburg and Simone Young, and with Seattle Opera and the State Opera of South Australia both under the baton of Asher Fisch.