With a repertoire spanning Wagner's Amfortas, Verdi's Macbeth and the title role in John Adams's Nixon in China, Thomas Lehman has rapidly established himself as one of today's most compelling baritones. His growing international career has already brought appearances at the Salzburg Festival, Bayerische Staatsoper, Royal Opera House and Deutsche Oper Berlin, while Wagner's great baritone roles continue to form an increasingly important part of his repertoire. This season, Thomas Lehman returns to the Royal Opera House as Gunther in Barrie Kosky's new production of Götterdämmerung, conducted by Sir Antonio Pappano, and makes his Bayreuth Festival debut as the Heerrufer in Ilaria Lanzino's new production of Lohengrin, conducted by Tarmo Peltokoski. He also makes his house debut at Opernhaus Zürich as Dr Falke in Die Fledermaus and his debut at Dutch National Opera as Ibn-Hakia in Evgeny Titov's production of Iolanta, conducted by Kwame Ryan. On the concert platform, he performs Carmina Burana with the Dresden Philharmonie under Donald Runnicles and with the Orchestra of Teatro dell'Opera di Roma at the Circo Massimo, Rome.
Recent highlights include creating the role of Dr Keiron in Unsuk Chin's Die dunkle Seite des Mondes at the Staatsoper Hamburg under Kent Nagano, together with engagements at the Royal Opera House as the Father in Hänsel und Gretel, the Salzburg Festival as Lord Guglielmo Cecil in Ulrich Rasche's new production of Maria Stuarda, the Bayerische Staatsoper as Killian in Der Freischütz under Daniele Rustioni, and San Francisco Opera as the Heerrufer in David Alden's production of Lohengrin. He has also appeared as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte for Detroit Opera and as Ibn Hakia in Iolanta at both the Opéra de Rouen and Theater Bern. Other notable engagements include Ford in
Barrie Kosky's Falstaff at the Komische Oper Berlin, Il Conte Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro for Theater Basel, and Donner in Das Rheingold with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra under Yannick Nézet-Séguin, in performances in Rotterdam, at the Théâtre des ChampsÉlysées in Paris, Dortmund and Baden-Baden.
As a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Thomas Lehman established himself as one of the company's leading baritones, performing an exceptionally wide-ranging repertoire.
Recent seasons have brought his role debuts as Amfortas in Parsifal and Kurwenal in a new production of Tristan und Isolde, together with the title roles in Macbeth and John Adams's Nixon in China, Yeletsky in a new production of Pique Dame, and his first staged performances as Wolfram in Tannhäuser. His extensive repertoire with the company also includes Gunther in
Stefan Herheim's Götterdämmerung, Lucifer in Antikrist, Guy de Montfort in Les vêpres siciliennes, Lescaut in Manon Lescaut under Sir Simon Rattle, Ford in Falstaff, Marcello in La bohème, Renato in Un ballo in maschera, Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Il Conte Almaviva, Valentin in Faust and
Silvio in Pagliacci.
