Performance Database

Derek Welton

Australian bass-baritone Derek Welton is a regular guest at various opera houses such as the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Salzburg Festival, Vienna State Opera, Bayreuth Festival, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Hamburg State Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Dutch National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and the Bolshoi Theatre, in roles such as Wotan (Das Rheingold), Klingsor (Parsifal), Heerrufer (Lohengrin), Orest (Elektra), Father (Hansel and Gretel), Duke of Albany (Lear), Voland (The Master and Margarita), Bluebeard (Duke Bluebeard's Castle), Pizarro (Fidelio), Förster (Das schlaue Füchslein), Prus (Die Sache Makropulos), Saint-Bris (Die Hugenotten), Pandolfe (Cendrillon), Figaro (Die Hochzeit des Figaro) and Créon (Œdipus Rex).

In the 2022/2023 season he makes his debuts at the Opéra National du Rhin as Der König in Der Schatzgräber and at the Opéra de Lyon as Pangloss in Candide. He returns to Deutsche Oper Berlin as Der Pförtner in Das Wunder der Heliane, to the Vienna State Opera as Klingsor, and to Victorian Opera as Orest, and makes his role debuts as Amfortas in Parsifal with the Orquesta de Extremadura, as Wotan in excerpts of Die Walküre with the Orchestre National de Lille, and as Der Wanderer in Act 3 of Siegfried with the Basel Symphony Orchestra.

He sings with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Hallé Orchestra, Philharmonic Orchestra Rotterdam, Gewandhausorchester, Concerto Köln, Academy of Ancient Music, Czech Philharmonic, and the Berlin Philharmonic. His repertoire includes Der Messias, Bach's St. Matthew Passion, St. John Passion, and Mass in B minor, Haydn's The Creation, Beethoven's 9th Symphony, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Tippett's A Child of our Time, and Martinů's The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Derek Welton has appeared in CD and DVD recordings as Wotan in Das Rheingold (Naxos), Orest in Elektra (Unitel Edition), The Porter in Korngold's Das Wunder der Heliane (Naxos), Heerrufer in Lohengrin (Deutsche Grammophon), Creonte in Haydn's L'anima del filosofo (Pinchgut Live), in the title role of Martinů's Epic of Gilgamesh (Supraphon), two recordings as soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Ondine and Brattle Media), and with a solo CD of songs by Vaughan Williams with Iain Burnside (Albion Records).

Derek Welton is a graduate of the University of Melbourne (Linguistics and German) and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London.

 

 

Engagements in Bayreuth

Year Opera Part
2023 Parsifal Amfortas
2022 Lohengrin Der Heerrufer des Königs
2021 Konzert Parsifal Klingsor
2019 Parsifal Klingsor
2018 Parsifal Klingsor
2017 Parsifal Klingsor