GREGORY KUNDE

Renowned worldwide for his interpretation of the title role in Verdi Otello, Kunde has performed the role to critical acclaim at the Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro dell’opera di Roma, Bayerische Staatsoper, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Teatro Communale di Bologna, Semperoper Dresden, Festival Perelada, Theatro Municipal di Sao Paolo, Staatsoper Stuttgart, Opéra National de Paris, Teatro Municipal di Piacenza, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Teatro San Carlo di Napoli, Opéra de Monte-Carlo, Seoul Philharmonic, and Tokyo Philharmonic. Making his debut in this now-signature role in 2012, Kunde performed it first at La Fenice.

Other career highlights include his role debut as Florestan in Beethoven Fidelio at the Opéra Nice Côte d'Azur; his debut as Captain Vere in Billy Budd at Vienna State Opera; Don Alvaro in Verdi La Forza del Destino for the Verdi Festival, Teatro Regio di Parma and the Semperoper Dresden; Canio in Leoncavallo Pagliacci for the Teatro Regio di Parma and Teatro Communale di Bologna; the title role in Giordano Andrea Chenier for Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Regio di Parma, Wiener Staatsoper, and Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, ABAO Bilbao; the title role of Britten’s Peter Grimes for L’Accademia Santa Cecelia, Rome, Palau des Arts, Valencia, Staatsoper Hamburg; Radames in Verdi Aida for L’Arena di Verona, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Teatro Real, Madrid, Teatro Municipal di Sao Paolo, Bayerische Staatsoper, Wiener Staatsoper, and with Maggio Musicale in Tchaikovsky Hall in Moscow; and Cavaradossi in Puccini Tosca for the Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Los Angeles Opera; Manrico in Verdi Il Trovatore for LA Opera, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La Fenice, La Coruña; Calaf in Turandot for the Staatsoper Hamburg, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Tel Aviv, L’Arena di Verona, Opéra National de Paris and Teatro Real, Madrid; Énée in Berlioz Les Troyens for the Bayerische Staatsoper, Theatre du Chatelet, Teatro all Scala; Jean de Leyden in Meyerbeer Le Prophete at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the title role in Verdi Don Carlos for Opéra Royal de Wallonie-Liège, Samson in Saint-Saëns Samson et Dalilah at the Metropolitan Opera, Palau de Les Arts, Valencia, Teatro de Maestranza, Seville, Teatro Regional di Torino, and at the Marinsky in Saint Petersburg; and a return to the podium to conduct Rossini Il Barbiere di Siviglia at the Teatro La Fenice.

On the concert platform, recent highlights include the title role in Verdi Ernani for the Teatro Nacional de Sao Carlos, Renato des Grieux in Puccini Manon Lescaut for Dallas Opera, Verdi Requiem and Calaf in Turandot with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Zubin Mehta, Mahler Das Lied von der Erde at the BBC Proms, Verdi Requiem in Bilbao and with the National Symphony Orchestra of the Dominican Republic, the title role in Otello at the Cincinnati May Festival, the title role in Peter Grimes with Sir Antonio Pappano at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Faust in Berlioz La Damnation de Faust at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam with Charles Dutoit.

Acclaimed throughout his earlier career for his performances in French and Italian bel canto roles, Kunde has now established himself as a leading exponent of many of the Verdi roles and other such dramatic repertoire. Since his critically acclaimed debut as Verdi Otello at La Fenice in 2012, he has performed this signature role in globally. Since moving into this repertoire, Kunde earned the unique distinction of being the only tenor in recorded history to perform both Rossini Otello and Verdi Otello in the same season (2014/15 and 2015/16).