About
Grammy nominee and 2014 International Opera Awards Male Singer of the Year, Stuart Skelton is one of the finest heldentenors on the stage today, critically acclaimed for his outstanding musicianship, tonal beauty and intensely dramatic portrayals.
Stuart has appeared in many of the world’s most celebrated opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, Seattle Opera, San Francisco Opera, English National Opera, Paris Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dresden Semperoper and the Vienna State Opera. His roles include the title roles in Lohengrin, Rienzi, Parsifal, Dmitrij, Otello and Peter Grimes as well as Florestan in Fidelio, Laca in Jenufa, Erik in Der Fliegende Holländer, The Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos, Max in Der Freischütz, Canio in Pagliacci, Gherman in The Queen of Spades, and Siegmund in Der Ring des Nibelungen.
He continues to be in demand on concert stages around the world, having appeared with such orchestras as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Hamburg, Frankfurt and Munich Radio Symphony Orchestras, London Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Orchestras of Scotland and Wales and the Symphony Orchestras of Sydney, Melbourne, Western Australia and Tasmania. He has also appeared at the Edinburgh and Lucerne Festivals, and in the BBC Proms.
Throughout his career Stuart has been fortunate enough to work with many acclaimed conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Jiři Bèlohlavek, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Christoph Eschenbach, Asher Fisch, Edward Gardner, Daniele Gatti, Phillipe Jordan, Fabio Luisi, Lorin Maazel, David Robertson, Sir Simon Rattle, Donald Runnicles, Simone Young and Jaap van Zweden.
The tenor makes his debut at Teatro alla Scala in the 2017-18 season in Fidelio conducted by Myung-Whun Chung in a production directed by Deborah Warner. Stuart Skelton’s robust concert calendar includes performances of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Asher Fisch and the Milwaukee Symphony, Adam Fischer and the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker, and with Sir Simon Rattle and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks and the London Symphony Orchestra at Lincoln Centre; Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with Sir Andrew Davis and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and with Sakari Oramo and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Mr Skelton also joins the Dallas Symphony in the farewell performances of Jaap van Zweden in Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, appears as a recitalist at the Melbourne Recital Centre with pianist Richard Peirson, followed by concert performances and recording of Tristan und Isolde with Western Australian Symphony Orchestra under Asher Fisch and makes his Royal Opera House, Covent Garden debut as Siegmund in Keith Warner’s production of Der Ring des Nibelungen conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano.
His recording of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Michael Tilson-Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony was released on the Symphony’s own label and a recording of the same work, with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra under Vladimir Ashkenazy, was released late in 2010. Other recordings include Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with Sir Charles Mackerras and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and live recordings of Die Walküre with both the State Opera of South Australia and Seattle Opera. Recent additions to Stuart’s discography include The Dream of Gerontius, recorded for Chandos with Sir Andrew Davis and the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Glaglolitic Mass for Chandos with Ed Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonc and his most recent addition, reuniting Chandos, the Bergen Philharmonic and Ed Gardner for Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder. Past seasons have seen Stuart make his Metropolitan Opera and Santa Fe Opera debuts as the Drum Major in Wozzeck, returning to the MET in the subsequent season to sing Siegmund in the Lepage Ring. He has also returned to the English National Opera in the title role of Nikolaus Lehnhoff’s production of Parsifal as well as Erik in The Flying Dutchman and Florestan in Fidelio. He has sung Parsifal at the Zürich Opera, made his Dresden Semperoper debut in Lohengrin and made his Berlin Philharmonic debut with Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. He has sung the title role of Peter Grimes at the Opera de Oviedo, Tokyo’s New National Theatre, and in concert at the BBC Proms. He also made his role debut as Gherman in The Queen of Spades in concert performances with the Sydney Symphony under Vladimir Ashkenazy. Stuart has returned many times wth English National Opera, reprising Peter Grimes and making his role debut as Otello, continuing his long association with Edward Gardner.
In 2016 Stuart made his role debut as Tristan in production of Tristan und Isolde with the Baden-Baden Festspiel with the Berlin Philharmonic under Sir Simon Rattle, followed on by a new production of the same opera at the English National Opera under Ed Gardner and then again in the MET’s season-opening production of Tristan und Isolde also conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. Skelton returned to his native Australia for Tristan und Isolde in concert with Nina Stemme and the Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra under Marko Letonja, a Wagner Arias concert with West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Asher Fisch, rounding out his Australian tour with concert performances of Parsifal Act II with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Simone Young.
2017 saw Stuart return to the Opera National de Paris in the title role of Lohengrin, the Bavarian State Opera as Laca in Jenufa and the Deutsch Oper Berlin as Siegmund, make his debt with the Cincinnati Symphony in Mahler´s Das Lied von der Erde and a return to the Bergen Philharmonic for concert performances of Peter Grimes and Otello. Stuart also made a return to Mahler´s Das Lied von der Erde with The Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, under Esa-Pekka Salonen and Sir Andrew Davis and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, as well as concert performances of Die Walküre with the Bilbao Orkestra Sinfonikoa. Making a welcome return to the BBC Proms, Stuart appeared as Florestan in Beethoven’s Fidelio with the BBC Philharmonic under Juanjo Mena. Renewing his frequent collaborations with Edward Gardner, Stuart once again appeared as Peter Grimes with the Bergen Filharmonic at The Edinburgh International Festival. Stuart rounded out his year with performances of Siegmund with the Salzburg Easter Festival production of Die Walküre with the Hong Kong Philharmonic under Jaap van Zweden, in Beijing and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with St Louis Symphony Orchestra and long time collaborator David Robertson.
Stuart has twice been honoured with the Sir Robert Helpmann Award, once for his performance of Siegmund in the State Opera of South Australia’s 2004 production of the The Ring Cycle, and again in 2010 for Best Male Performer in a Lead Role for his portrayal of Peter Grimes for Opera Australia. He received a 2010 Green Room Award for A Streetcar Named Desire and is a two-time Olivier Award nominee for Outstanding Achievement in Opera for his performances as Peter Grimes and Tristan with the English National Opera.