George Humphreys

Opera

LTH

Baritone George Humphreys was born in Oxford and, after studying voice at St John’s College, Cambridge, and at the Royal Academy of Music in London, became a member of the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera House. There he performed roles such as Fafner in Wagner’s "The Ring of the Nibelung for Children" and Leuthold in Rossini’s "Guillaume Tell". At the English National Opera, he sang Jack Wallace in Puccini’s "La fanciulla del West", Schaunard in "La Bohème", Moralès in "Carmen" and Marullo in "Rigoletto". He appeared at Landestheater Bregenz as Belcore in Donizetti’s "L’elisir d’amore", at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma as Starveling in Britten’s "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" and at Dijon Opera as Aeneas in Purcell’s "Dido and Aeneas".

In 2016, he appeared at Welsh National Opera in Cardiff as Lieutenant Jenkins in the world premiere of Iain Bell’s "In Parenthesis", and also sang Giove in Cavalli’s "La Calisto" with English Touring Opera. In 2017, he made his role debut as Leporello at Nederlandse Reisopera and sang Demetrius in "A Midsummer Night’s Dream" at the Aldeburgh Festival. His recent concert highlights include Aeneas with La Nuova Musica, Bach’s "St Matthew Passion" at the Handel Festival in London, and Handel’s "Messiah" with the Gabrieli Consort, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. At the Buxton International Festival he sang the title role in "Eugene Onegin", and with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra he appeared in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8.

Humphreys has also given song recitals at Lille Opera, Zurich Opera House, Wigmore Hall in London and the Oxford Lieder Festival, and was recently appointed an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in London.

Since the 2017/2018 season, he has been a member of the ensemble at the Salzburg State Theatre, where his roles have included the Four Villains in Offenbach’s "The Tales of Hoffmann", Count Almaviva in Mozart’s "Le nozze di Figaro", and the title role in "Don Giovanni". He has sung Lescaut in Massenet’s "Manon", Filippo in the Austrian premiere of Rossini’s "La Gazzetta", Josef K. in the Austrian premiere of Philip Glass’ "The Trial", and appeared in "The Flower of Hawaii", Gounod’s "Faust/Margarethe" and Alma Deutscher’s "Cinderella". In "Viva la Diva", he took on the role of Mamma Agata both at the Salzburg State Theatre and at the Buxton International Festival.

Further roles in Salzburg have included the Music Teacher in "Ariadne auf Naxos", the Speaker and Papageno in "Die Zauberflöte", Prior Walter in "Angels in America" and Escamillo in Bizet’s "Carmen". In autumn 2022, he toured the UK with Glyndebourne Festival as Count Almaviva in "Le nozze di Figaro".

His more recent roles include Dr. Falke in "Die Fledermaus", Figaro in Gregor Bloéb’s new production of Rossini’s "Il barbiere di Siviglia", Charles in the Austrian premiere of Stuart MacRae’s "Anthropocene", and Lord Sidney in Rossini’s "Il viaggio a Reims".