Callum Thorpe

Bass

Callum Thorpe was outstanding, his large, dark voice and nervy acting bringing some seriously volatile menace to a spivvy and spoilt Masetto

Peter Reed, Opera Magazine

British bass Callum Thorpe initially obtained a PhD in Immunology before focussing on his vocal studies at the Royal Academy of Music. From 2017 to 2021 he was a member of the solo ensemble at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich where roles included Banco Macbeth, Pistola Falstaff, Il Re d’Egitto Aida, Colline La Bohème, Zuniga Carmen, Farfallo Die Schweigsame Frau, Truffaldin Ariadne auf Naxos and Masetto Don Giovanni.

Highlights

  • Sparafucile Rigoletto, Angelotti in Tosca and Poacher in Janáček The Cunning Little Vixen at Opera North
  • Don Basilio in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia at Garsington Opera
  • Colline La bohème, Banco Macbeth, Pistola Falstaff, Il Re d’Egitto Aida, Zuniga Carmen, Truffaldino Ariadne auf Naxos, Masetto Don Giovanni– Bayerische Staatsoper Munich
  • Bach St John Passion, Il Commendatore Don Giovanni– Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre
  • Valens Theodora – Teatro Real Madrid
  • Gibarian in the world première of Fujikura’s Solaris –Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Opéra de Lille and Opéra de Lausanne
  • Hunding Die Walküre– Erik Nielsen and the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra

Biography

2023-24 season’s highlights include Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner and Schubert Mass No. 5 with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; singing excerpts from Bizet’s Les pȇcheurs de perles and Gounod’s Faust in The French…

2023-24 season’s highlights include Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner and Schubert Mass No. 5 with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; singing excerpts from Bizet’s Les pȇcheurs de perles and Gounod’s Faust in The French Collection opera in concert at Scottish Opera; a new production by Sir David Pountney of Purcell Masque of Might at Opera North, and a return to the 2024 Glyndebourne Festival.

Recent operatic engagements include Commendatore/Masetto in Don Giovanni at the Ravenna Festival and Opéra royale de Versailles with Marc Minkowski; Sparafucile Rigoletto, Angelotti in Tosca and Poacher in Janáček The Cunning Little Vixen at Opera North; Basilio in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia for Garsington Opera and Talbot Maria Stuarda for Irish National Opera. Elsewhere he has sung Sarastro Die Zauberflöte and Banco Macbeth at Theater Basel; Antinoo and Il Tempo Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées under Emmanuelle Haïm and Plutone Orfeo for the Royal Opera House. Callum has also performed, in concert, Hunding in Wagner’s Die Walküre with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra and Eric Nielsen.

In addition, Callum created the role of Gibarian in the world première of Fujikura’s Solaris at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Opéra de Lille and Opéra de Lausanne and regularly sings twentieth century opera including appearances as Arthur/Officer 2 The Lighthouse by Peter Maxwell Davies and Loudspeaker Der Kaiser von Atlantis by Viktor Ullmann.

On the concert platform his wide-ranging repertoire includes Bach St John Passion and St Matthew Passion, Jupiter Platée, Handel Messiah, title role Apollo e Dafne, Lucifer La resurrezione and the Mozart and Verdi Requiem working with conductors including Marc Minkowski, Sir Mark Elder, Ivor Bolton, Jonathan Cohen, Masato Suzuki and Christian Curnyn and recently Bach Mass in B Minor conducted by Giedre Slekyte at the Erl Tiroler Festival, Handel La resurrezione at the London Handel Festival with Laurence Cummings and a return to the 2022 Edinburgh International Festival for Salome with Edward Gardner.

Callum has also performed extensively with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants at Glyndebourne Festival, Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Lincoln Center New York, Amsterdam Concertgebouw and at the BBC Proms as Valens in Handel’s Theodora, Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea, Adonis Venus and Adonis, Israel in Egypt as well as Purcell The Fairy Queen and The Indian Queen, Rameau Hippolyte et Aricie, as Phobetor in Lully’s Atys and Pluto in Charpentier La descente d’Orphée aux enfers.

FOR USE IN 2023/24 SEASON

This biography should not be edited without permission from Maxine Robertson Management.
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Maxine Robertson Managing Director
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