Christopher Lemmings:

Tenor

With recent triumphs as Caliban in Thomas Adès’ The Tempest at both the Royal Opera (broadcast on television) and Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, and a much acclaimed CD of Ned Rorem’s Auden Songs (with Chamber Domaine / Sanctuary Classics), Christopher Lemmings has secured his position as one of today’s most sought-after tenors in his repertoire. A busy future schedule includes Sellem The Rake’s Progress with the opera companies of Nantes, Angers and Rennes, Die Zweiter Junge Offizier Die Soldaten with the Bochum Ruhrtriennale, Kodaly’s Psalmus Hungaricus with the Highgate Choral Society under Ronald Corp, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Northern Sinfonia under Thomas Ades, Don Basilio/Don Curzio Le Nozze di Figaro with the Classical Opera Company at venues including Buxton Festival and Sadlers Wells, and Beauty in Gerald Barry’s The Triumph of Beauty and Deceit with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw with the Dutch Ives Ensemble, and with Birmingham Contemporary Music Group under Thomas Adès with Radio France, Paris and at Carnegie Hall, New York.

Born in Surrey, he graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, winning among others the BP Cripplegate award and Countess of Munster Scholarship. His appearances in Britain have included Lechmere Owen Wingrave, the title role in La Clemenza di Tito and Belmonte Die Entführung aus dem Serail, all for Glyndebourne Touring Opera, Albert Albert Herring (ETO), Il Maestro di Ballo Manon Lescaut with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Paris La Belle Helene, Don Ottavio Don Giovanni, Conte Almaviva Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Lensky Eugene Onegin. He made his Covent Garden mainstage debut as Stingo in Sophie’s Choice, and returned as Scaramuccio in Ariadne auf Naxos. Other highlights have included for Glyndebourne Touring Opera; The Nihilist Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk for ENO; Ferrando Cosi Fan Tutte for Opera Holland Park; Pericles in Steffani’s La Liberta Contenta for the Barber Institute; a critically acclaimed performance of Dov The Knot Garden with Music Theatre Wales, and Edmund in Tosjiko Hosokawa’s The Vision of Lear at the Royal Opera House, Linbury Theatre.

His international appearances have included Don Ottavio Don Giovanni in Cologne and Verona; Molqi The Death of Klinghoffer in a new production directed by Tony Palmer and conducted by Sian Edwards for the Finnish National Opera; and the same role at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw (conducted by Edo de Waart) as well the Hotel Porter Death in Venice (conducted my Kenneth Montgomery), and Lechmere Owen Wingrave (conducted by Lawrence Rennes) in the same venue. He created the role of Bartholomew in Harrison Birtwistle’s new opera The Last Supper for the Staatsoper Berlin under Daniel Barenboim (going on to revive the role for the 2001 Glyndebourne Festival) and sang the title role in Pascal Dusapin’s Perela, L’Uomo di Fumo in the co-production between the Bastille and L’Opéra de Montpellier

A consummate concert and recital artist, Christopher’s repertoire include Finzi Intimations of Immortality with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra; Rossini Stabat Mater with the RTE Concert Orchestra in Dublin; the Haydn Stabat Mater with the Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra; Messiah with the English Chamber Orchestra, both in London and on tour in Spain; and Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass at the Brighton Festival. He made his BBC Proms debut in 2006 Mozart Thamos King of Egypt, with the Orchestra of St John’s under John Lubbock.