Adrian Thompson

Tenor

London-born Adrian Thompson is an artist of extraordinary versatility with a wide-ranging opera, concert and recital repertoire of works from the renaissance to the present day. He trained at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama where he is now a professor of vocal studies.

Adrian Thompson has performed with all the major British orchestras and ensembles and his overseas engagements have taken him all over the world, working with many distinguished conductors:
Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Trevor Pinnock, Harry Christophers, Sir Andrew Davis, Richard Hickox, Sir Colin Davis and Philippe Herreweghe. His recent concert highlights include Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass with the Hallé Orchestra/Mark Elder, The Dream of Gerontius with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra/Christopher Seaman and at the Royal Festival Hall, and Britten’s War Requiem with London Concert Choir/Mark Forkgen at the Barbican. He is particularly associated with the works of Britten and Elgar and his repertoire also includes Beethoven Ninth Symphony, Verdi’s Requiem and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde as well as the Evangelists of Bach’s St John and St Matthew Passions. In the contemporary field he has performed Lutoslawski’s Paroles Tisées with Oliver Knussen and The London Sinfonietta, recorded Judith Weir’s A Night at the Chinese Opera and given many first performances of works by British and European composers.

His extensive operatic work has taken him to many of Europe’s leading opera houses. His many roles include the title role of Peter Grimes and Canio/I Pagliacci for Oper Frankfurt; Florestan/Fidelio and Scribe/Khovanshchina for Welsh National Opera; Valzacchi/Rosenkavalier and Monostatos/Die Zauberflöte for the Royal Opera House; Gregor/The Makropoulos Case and Laca/Jenufa for Opera Zuid; Prologue/The Turn of the Screw for Grand Théâtre de Genève, and Mime/Das Rheingold for Nationale Reisopera. He has also performed Mao/Nixon in China for Toronto Opera.

A very experienced recitalist, Adrian Thompson has made many appearances at the Wigmore Hall and at festivals in the UK and Europe with pianists Graham Johnson, Iain Burnside and Roger Vignoles and harpist Ossian Ellis. He has recorded works by Vaughan Williams and Gurney, a volume in the acclaimed Complete Schubert Edition and Janácek’s The Eternal Gospel with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Warlock’s The Curlew Classics and Schubert’s Die Schöne Müllerin. He appears in recordings of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Vaughan Williams’ The Pilgrim’s Progress and Sir John in Love and in Handel’s Rodelinda. His discography also includes Britten’s Serenade, Les Illuminations and Nocturne and Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang.

Engagements in 2011/2012 include Mime/Siegfried for the Nationale Reisopera, Triquet in the new production of Eugene Onegin for English National Opera, Glagolitic Mass at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, The Dream of Gerontius at Worcester Cathedral, Valzacchi for ENO and School Teacher/The Cunning Little Vixen for Glyndebourne Festival.