ADRIAN THOMPSON

Tenor

Adrian is one of Britain’s leading operatic character tenors, long established on the stages of Covent Garden, Glyndebourne, English National Opera, Welsh National Opera and Garsington Festival. Internationally, his guest appearances have included Snout A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Teatro alla Scala, Albert Gregor The Makropoulos Case for Opera Zuid and Cologne Opera, title role Peter Grimes, Skuratov From The House Of The Dead and Canio Il Pagliacci for Oper Frankfurt and The Diary of one who Disappeared for La Monnaie and the Aix en Provence Festival, and Emperor Turandot for Canadian Opera Company. Adrian received extraordinary critical acclaim for his February 2020 performance as Mime Siegfried in the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s Ring Cycle conducted by Vladimir Jurowski. Highlights of the 2020-21 season include Mime Das Rheingold for the Bochumer Symphoniker and Boyar Nikita Matuta in Rimsky-Korsakov's Ivan the Terrible for Grange Park Opera.

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Artist Manager

Camilla Wehmeyer

camilla@wehmeyermanagement.com

Associate

Mary Donald

mary@wehmeyermanagement.com

News

News items coming soon

Media

Repertoire Includes

Concert

BACH

St John Passion
St Matthew Passion

BEETHOVEN

Symphony No. 9

BERLIOZ

Te Deum

BRITTEN

Serenade
Nocturne
Winter Words
Spring Symphony
War Requiem

ELGAR

Dream Of Gerontius
The Apostles
The Kingdom

JANACEK

Glagolitic Mass
The Eternal Gospel

LUTOSLAWSKI

Paroles Tiseés

MAHLER

Das Lied Von Der Erde

MENDELSSOHN

Lobgesang

SCHUBERT

Die Schöne Müllerin

WARLOCK

The Curlew

Opera

BRITTEN

Albert Herring (Mr Upfold)

Billy Budd (Red Whiskers)
Peter Grimes (Rev. Adams)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Snout)

HARTMANN

Simplicius Simplicissimus (Hermit)

HUMPERDINCK

Hansel Und Gretel (Witch)

JANACEK
From The House Of The Dead (Shapkin)
Macropoulos Case (Vitek)

MONTEVERDI

Il Ritorno D'ulisse In Patria (Iro)

Mozart

Le Nozze Di Figaro (Basilio)
Die Zauberflöte (Monostatos)

MUSSORGSKY

Khovanshchina (Scribe)

PUCCINI

Turandot (Emperor Altoum)
Madama Butterfly (Goro)

SHOSTAKOVICH

Lady Macbeth Of Mtsensk (Drunk Peasant)

STROMAN

The Weekend (Stephen)

STRAUSS, R.

Salome (Herod, 1st Jew)

RIMSKY-KORSAKOV

Maid Of Pskov (Boyar Nikita Matuta)

TCHAIKOVSKY

Eugene Onegin (Triquet)

VERDI

Falstaff (Bardolfo)

WAGNER

Das Rheingold (Mime)
Siegfried (Mime)

Selected Discography

Moeran: The Complete Edition

The complete solo folksong arrangements with Adrian Thompson (tenor), Marcus Farnsworth (baritone) and John Talbot (piano). BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY (2011)

Frank Martin: Golgotha

Cast includes Adrian Thompson, Judith Gauthier, Marianne Beate Kielland with Cappella Amsterdam, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra conducted by Daniel Reuss HARMONIA MUNDI (2010)

Kubik: Songs of Zhivago

Solo song recital with Adrian Thompson and the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Ronald Zollmann NEOS (2006)

Vaughan Williams: Sir John in Love

Cast includes Adrian Thompson, Stephan Loges, Roderick Williams, Sarah Connolly with Sinfonia Chorus and Northern Sinfonia conducted by Richard Hickox CHANDOS (2000)

Vaughan Williams: The Pilgrim's Progress

Cast includes Adrian Thompson, Gerald Finley, Susan Gritton, Rebecca Evans, Anne Marie Owens with the orchestra and chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden conducted by Richard Hickox CHANDOS (1997)

Schubert: The Hyperion Schubert Edition Vol.12

Solo song recital with Adrian Thompson and Graham Johnson HYPERION (1991)

Press

Wagner SIEGFRIED / London Philharmonic (Cond. Jurowski)

"Adrian Thompson's engagingly characterful Mime dominated the first half"

Financial Times, Richard Fairman (February 2020)

"Adrian Thompson's funny yet dangerous Mime was all obsessive hatred, self-loathing and manipulative malice"

The Guardian, Tim Ashley (February 2020)

"...literally dwarfed by the Mime of Adrian Thompson, who projected his part with enough animation for an army of Nibelungs"

Evening Standard, Barry Millington (February 2020)

"Adrian Thompson's mincing, mocking Mime, one of those 110 per cent performances destined to stay in the memory"

The Times, Geoff Brown (February 2020)

“I'm not sure I have seen any singer in a concert performance bring such energy and sheer range to the character he is portraying. Thompson's skill isn't to make us entirely forget that Mime is fundamentally evil - though perhaps, we got rather more deviousness than outright evil on this occasion. Thompson doesn't exactly skimp on the comedic elements of Mime, however. His constant whinging that he cannot forge a new sword from the smashed fragments of Notung, his howls tempered with groans are all emphasised...What was also so notable about Thompson's Mime was the quality of the singing. Here we had a tenor with clarion high notes and a solid bottom register - a remarkably complete performance of the role."

Opera Today, Marc Bridle (February 2020)