Kim Begley Tenor

On completion of his studies, British tenor, Kim Begley joined the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as a principal tenor; in six seasons, he sang over thirty roles, and has since returned frequently as a guest artist: in Katya, Pfitzner’s Palestrina, Billy Budd and in Wozzeck, conducted by Music Director, Antonio Pappano. Covent Garden has also been the stage for two of Kim Begley’s major Wagnerian débuts: Siegmund with Bernard Haitink, and Erik with Simone Young, both earning him attention and critical acclaim as a major Wagnerian talent.

Throughout his career, Kim Begley has also enjoyed a continuing relationship with both the Glyndebourne Festival and English National Opera. The major Janacek roles that have featured heavily in Kim’s career were débuted at Glyndebourne, and it was the venue for his first Florestan in Fidelio, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. For English National Opera, Kim has performed principal roles by Britten, Janacek and Moussorgsky as well as his first portrayal of Wagner’s Parsifal, conducted by Mark Elder in a highly successful new Lehnhoff production. This Wagnerian role début brought unanimous critical acclaim – “Kim Begley is as fine a Parsifal as I have heard: the tone is unfailingly heroic, and you will travel far to find a tenor who can act so naturally and yet so intelligently” – as well as an Olivier Award nomination.

As a renowned interpreter of the major roles by, among others, Wagner, Britten, Janacek and Beethoven, Kim Begley has remained in demand for operatic engagements in Europe and North America. He has performed at the opera houses in Frankfurt (Lohengrin and Death in Venice), Cologne (Das Rheingold), Barcelona (Makropolous Case), Lyon (Dr Faustus), Brussels (Khovanshchina), Toulouse (Die Walkure, Peter Grimes), as well in Amsterdam (Peter Grimes), Paris at both the Bastille (Mahagonny, Billy Budd, Flying Dutchman) and the Chatelet (Fidelio, Dr Faustus, The Bassarids), at La Scala Milan (Der Freischutz, Das Rheingold, Il Prigionero), at Berlin’s Staatsoper (Der Freischutz) and in Geneva (Boris, Fidelio, Adventures of Mr Broucek, Salome).

In the summer of 2000, Kim Begley made his début at the world-famous Bayreuth Festival with his interpretation of Wagner’s Loge in that year’s new Ring, conducted by the late Giuseppe Sinopoli. Receiving widespread critical acclaim, the Guardian hailed Begley as “the real star, who carries Das Rheingold almost single-handed”.

At Chicago’s Lyric Opera, the house of his American operatic début, Kim has performed Makropolous Case, Mahagonny, Billy Budd, Flying Dutchman, Fidelio and Salome. In the 2003/2004 season he made his house debut at San Francisco Opera in Billy Budd, in 2006/2007 his debut at Washington’s National Opera, as Laca, and in the following season the same role in Los Angeles, receiving high critical acclaim in all cities. Following Kim’s first appearance in 2003 at New York’s Metropolitan Opera as Janacek’s Laca conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, Kim returned to the Met in the 2006/2007 season to create the role of Samuel Griffith in Tobias Picker’s new composition An American Tragedy, in the following season debuted the role of Pierre/War and Peace in the house, conducted by Valery Gergiev, and last season returned again for both Herod/Salome (Mikko Franck) and Loge/Das Rheingold (James Levine).

Also a versatile concert artist, Kim Begley’s core repertoire includes Britten’s War Requiem, Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 and Missa Solemnis, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde and Symphony No 8.

A varied discography includes Solti’s Falstaff, and von Dohnànyi’s Salomé and Das Rheingold (Decca); Florestan/Leonore with Gardiner (DG Archiv) and the Grammy award-winning Dr Faustus by Busoni, conducted by Nagano (Erato).

Future projects include Herod/Salome at San Francisco Opera, Maggio Musical Fiorentino and in a Zambello production under Seiji Ozawa for the Saito Kinen Festival, alongside Loge/Das Rheingold and Captain Vere/Billy Budd at Opera Bastille.

2009/2010 Season

Date Last Edited: 18th August 2009