Christopher Ventris

Christopher Ventris remains one of the world’s leading Heldentenors and enjoys an unparalleled reputation as the pre-eminent Siegmund and Parsifal of his generation. From his acclaimed Bayreuther Festspiele debut as Parsifal in Stefan Herheim’s new production (Daniele Gatti), he went on to innumerable appearances in the role including at Wiener Staatsoper (under both Franz Welser-Möst and Semyon Bychkov), Bayerische Staatsoper (Kent Nagano), Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (Bernard Haitink), Opéra national de Paris (Hartmut Haenchen), San Francisco Opera (Donald Runnicles) and at Opernhaus Zürich (Haitink), the latter performance immortalised on DVD. As Siegmund (Die Walküre), Ventris has appeared at Wiener Staatsoper (Sir Simon Rattle), Bayreuther Festspiele, (Marek Janowski), Semperoper Dresden (Christian Thielemann), Washington National Opera (Philippe Auguin), Dutch National Opera (Marc Albrecht) and features on a live recording from Wiener Staastoper (Thielemann).

Elsewhere in the Wagner repertory, Ventris joined Philippe Jordan at Salzburger Festspiele in the title role of the lesser-performed Rienzi, made his role debut as Tannhäuser under Sir Mark Elder at Opéra national de Paris, and appeared as Lohengrin at Grand Théâtre de Genève, Teatro Real Madrid and The Dallas Opera. His recent role debut in Tristan und Isolde, at Théâtre de la Monnaie under Music Director Alain Altinoglu, was met with great acclaim: “In the love duet, he sang with honeyed warmth, blending handsomely with Isolde and the orchestra below …” and followed by further concert performances at Royal Danish Opera under Lothar Koenigs.

In the current season, Christopher Ventris reprises his Tambour-Major with both Boston Symphony Orchestra under Andris Nelsons, at Boston Symphony Hall and Carnegie Hall, and at Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía under James Gaffigan.