Thomas Allen

At the Royal Opera House, where in 2006 he celebrated the 35th anniversary of his debut with the company, he has sung over 40 roles. In the same year, he also celebrated the 25th anniversary of his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

He has been particularly acclaimed for his Billy Budd, Pelléas, Eugene Onegin, Ulisse and Beckmesser, as well as the great Mozart roles of Count Almaviva, Don Alfonso, Papageno, Guglielmo and, of course, Don Giovanni. His recent engagements have included the title role in Gianni Schicchi for Los Angeles Opera and at the Spoleto Festival; the title role in Sweeney Todd, Beckmesser (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), Prosdocimo (Il Turco in Italia), Music Master (Ariadne auf Naxos), Peter (Hänsel und Gretel) and Don Alfonso at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus), Don Alfonso, Ulisse and Don Giovanni at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Eisenstein at the Glyndebourne Festival; Don Alfonso at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and at the Salzburg Easter and Summer Festivals; Forester (The Cunning Little Vixen) at the San Francisco Opera and Beckmesser, Don Alfonso and Music Master at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

His engagements have included Gianni Schicchi, Don Alfonso, Prosdocimo and Faninal (Der Rosenkavalier) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Don Alfonso for Dallas Opera and at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Beckmesser for Cincinnati Opera and Faninal at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

Equally renowned on the concert platform, he appears in recital in the UK, throughout Europe, in Australia and America, and has appeared with the world’s great orchestras and conductors. The greatest part of his repertoire has been extensively recorded with such distinguished names as Solti, Levine, Marriner, Haitink, Rattle, Sawallisch and Muti. He has recently directed tremendously successful productions of Don Giovanni and Così fan Tutte for Samling Opera at The Sage, Gateshead. He made an acclaimed US directing debut with Le nozze di Figaro for Arizona Opera in 2006 and, in 2007, he directed Il barbiere di Siviglia for Scottish Opera.

His many honours include the title of Bayerischer Kammersänger awarded by the Bayerische Staatsoper, Honorary Membership of the Royal Academy of Music, Prince Consort Professor of the Royal College of Music, the Hambro Visiting Professorship of Opera Studies at Oxford University, Fellowship of the Royal College of Music, Fellowship of the University of Sunderland, MA from Newcastle University and a Doctorate of Music from Durham University and the University of Birmingham. In the New Year’s Honours of 1989 he was created a Commander of the British Empire and in the 1999 Queen’s Birthday Honours he was made a Knight Bachelor. In 2014 he was awarded The Queen’s Medal for Music.

Thomas Allen’s first book, Foreign Parts: A Singer’s Journal, was published in 1993. His film credits include Mrs Henderson Presents and The Real Don Giovanni.