Gerald Finley Bass-Baritone

This Canadian baritone has become one of the leading singers and dramatic interpreters of his generation, with award-winning performances and recordings on CD and DVD with major labels and performing at the world’s major opera and concert venues in a wide variety of repertoire. His recent awards include Best Solo Vocal Recording 2008, for his disk of Songs by Samuel Barber, at the Classic FM Gramophone Awards. This follows the Editor’s Choice Award at the 2006 Classic FM Gramophone Awards. His active relationship with leading conductors including Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sir Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink, Alan Gilbert and Antonio Pappano has been part of a flourishing career.

This season, at the Metropolitan Opera, Mr. Finley reprises his much acclaimed portrayal of J. Robert Oppenheimer in a new production of Doctor Atomic, which then receives its UK premiere later in the season with English National Opera. Also with the ENO, he takes the role of Captain Balstrode in Peter Grimes. Mr. Finley returns to the Royal Opera House for the role of Frank/Fritz in Korngold’s Die Tote Stadt, and he concludes the season at the Salzburg Festival as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro.

Concert highlights this season include performances of Doctor Atomic with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Robert Spano, Honegger’s Un cantate de noel and Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols in Moscow with Vladimir Jurowski and the orchestra of the Bolshoi, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the Lucerne Festival with Bernard Haitink and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.

Mr Finley’s recent CD albums of Barber and Ives songs, in continuing partnership with Julius Drake on the Hyperion label, have been critically acclaimed. Songs by Samuel Barber won the Best Solo Vocal Recording category of the 2008 Classic FM Gramophone Awards, and the Charles Ives Songs Romanzo di Central Park was nominated in the same category. In 2006 and 2008, he was nominated “Artist of the Year”. At the 2008 Canadian Juno Awards he received two nominations in the 'Classical Album of the Year: Vocal or Choral Performance' category, in a nod to his contribution to the CD Schubert Among Friends (Marquis Classics) along with Songs by Samuel Barber. His disk of Vaughan Williams’ Songs of Travel (CBC Records) with pianist Stephen Ralls won the 1997 Juno Award.

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