Christopher Lemmings

The British/Irish tenor Christopher Lemmings studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Roles include: for Covent Garden, Stingo in Nicholas Maw’s Sophie’s Choice under Sir Simon Rattle, Caliban in Thomas Adès’ The Tempest (also for BBC television and in Strasbourg) and Scaramuccio Ariadne auf Naxos; for Glyndebourne Tour: Tito La Clemenza di Tito, Belmonte Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Lechmere Owen Wingrave, for Glyndebourne Festival: Il Maestro di Ballo Manon Lescaut, and Bartholomew, a role he created, in Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s The Last Supper, premièred at the Staatsoper, Berlin under Daniel Barenboim; Don Ottavio Don Giovanni (Cologne/Verona); Il Podestà La Finta Giardiniera (Buxton Festival); Albert Albert Herring ETO, The Mayor Albert Herring for Maggio Musicale Fiorentino; both L’abate di Chazeuil Adriana Lecouvreur and Ferrando Cosi Fan Tutte for Holland Park Opera, Bob Boles Peter Grimes, Der Bucklige Die Frau ohne Schatten and Spoletta Tosca (Vlaamse Opera), Red Whiskers in Deborah Warner’s production of Billy Budd (Rome) and The Schoolmaster Cunning Little Vixen and Goro Madama Butterly (Bergen National Opera).

With a strong reputation for his work in Twentieth Century and Contemporary music, Christopher has collaborated with composers such as Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Thomas Adès, Oliver Knussen, Pascal Dusapin and Nicholas Maw. Roles include Clarence/Tyrrel in Robert Carsen’s production of Giorgio Batistelli’s Richard III (Strasbourg/Genève), Jack O’Brien in Graham Vick’s production of Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny and Der Prinz/Der Marquis in the William Kentridge production of Lulu for Rome Opera, Claude/Robinson in Philippe Fenelon’s JJR Citoyen de Geneve (Genève), Neoptolemus Birds, Barks, Bones (Rushton), and The Prince Seven Angels (Luke Bedford) with the Opera Group/BCMG, Edmund King Lear (Hosakawa) at ROH2, Molqi The Death of Klinghoffer (Finnish National Opera), Sellem The Rake’s Progress (Opera Nantes/ Angers) and Knussen’s Where the Wild Things Are/Higglety Pigglety Pop! (Aldeburgh Festival/LA Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel), Mouse/Dormouse Alice in Wonderland (Chin)(dir. Netia Jones, cond. Susanna Mälkki), Der Zweite Junge Offizier Die Soldaten (Bochum/Lincoln Centre Festival NYC). With Music Theatre Wales he sang Dov Knot Garden and created the role of Robin Fingest in Michael Berkeley and Ian McEwan’s opera For You, both at ROH2 Covent Garden.

Opera in concert includes: Gerald Barry’s Triumph of Beauty and Deceit under Thomas Adès with Radio France, Amsterdam, LA Philharmonic and Carnegie Hall, New York; Hotel Porter Death in Venice, Lechmere Owen Wingrave and Molqi The Death of Klinghoffer at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam under Edo de Waart; Itulbo Il Pirata and L’abate/Un incredibile Andrea Chénier (Chelsea Opera Group, QEH). Other concert appearances: Finzi’s Intimations of Immortality Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; Stravinsky’s Pulcinella (Northern Sinfonia); Rossini’s Stabat Mater RTE Concert Orchestra, Dublin; Haydn’s Stabat Mater Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Messiah (English Chamber Orchestra), War Requiem (Konzertchor Darmstadt), Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass (Brighton Festival), Orff’s Carmina Burana (Royal Festival Hall), and Arthur Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher with Marion Cotillard as Jeanne at the 61st Spoleto Festival 2018.

Current and future seasons include Red Whiskers Billy Budd at the Teatro dell’ Opera di Roma, Boyar Boris Godunov for ROH Covent Garden, and Jack O’Brien Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny for Parma and Reggio Emilia. He made his debut at La Fenice, Venice, as Clarence/Tyrrel Richard III in 2018 and returns there in 2020 to sing Bill in Samuel Barber’s A Hand of Bridge Recordings include the critically acclaimed Rorem Auden Songs with Chamber Domaine (Sanctuary Classics), The Sacred Heart of Nino Rota (Zitto), and Michael Berkeley and Ian McEwan’s opera For You (Signum).

www.christopherlemmings.com

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