Bryn Terfel

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Sir Bryn Terfel Jones (Template:IPA; born 9 November 1965), is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially primarily associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro, Leporello and Don Giovanni, but he has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Puccini and Wagner.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Biography

Terfel was born in Pant Glas, Caernarfonshire, Wales, the son of a farmer. His first language is Welsh.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He chose Bryn Terfel as his professional name to avoid confusion with another Welsh baritone, Delme Bryn-Jones. He had an interest in and talent for music from a young age. A family friend taught him how to sing, starting with traditional Welsh songs.

After winning numerous competitions for his singing, Terfel moved to London in 1984 and entered the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where he studied under Rudolf Piernay. In 1988, he entered and won the Morriston Orpheus Choir Supporters' Association Young Welsh Singer of the Year Competition.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He graduated in 1989, winning the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Award and the Gold Medal. The same year, he came second behind Dmitri Hvorostovsky in the Cardiff Singer of the World competition, winning the Lieder Prize.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Career

1990s

In 1990 Terfel made his operatic debut as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> for Welsh National Opera. Later in the same season, he sang the title role in The Marriage of Figaro, a role with which he made his debut with English National Opera in 1991.

His international operatic career began that same year when he sang the Speaker in Mozart's The Magic Flute at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, and made his United States debut as Figaro at the Santa Fe Opera.

In 1992, Terfel made his Royal Opera House, Covent Garden debut as Masetto in Don Giovanni, with Thomas Allen in the title role. That same year, he made his Salzburg Easter Festival debut singing the role of the Spirit Messenger in Die Frau ohne Schatten. This was followed by an international breakthrough at the main Salzburg Festival when he sang Jochanaan in Strauss's Salome. He went on to make his debut as Figaro at the Vienna State Opera.

On 19 June 1992, Terfel made his U.S. concert debut singing in Mahler's Eighth Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival under the baton of James Levine. Also at the festival, on 22 June, he and Levine (at the piano) performed Schumann's Liederkreis (op. 39) and Schubert's Schwanengesang, and on 27 June, he was Abimélech in Saint-Saëns's Samson and Delilah (with Plácido Domingo and Denyce Graves in the title roles), also with the CSO under Levine. In January and February 1993, Terfel sang the role of Donner in Wagner's Das Rheingold at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Zubin Mehta conducted.

Also in 1992, he signed an exclusive recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon and returned to the Welsh National Opera to sing Ford in Falstaff. In 1993, he recorded the role of Wilfred Shadbolt in The Yeomen of the Guard, by Gilbert and Sullivan and sang Figaro to acclaim at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Template:External media In 1994, Terfel sang Figaro at Covent Garden and made his Metropolitan Opera and Teatro Nacional de São Carlos debuts in the same role. However, back surgery in 1994 (and again in 2000) prevented him from performing in several scheduled events.

In 1996, he expanded his repertoire to include more Wagner, singing Wolfram in Tannhäuser at the Metropolitan Opera, and Stravinsky, singing Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress at the Welsh National Opera. These performances won him the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for the singer of the year.

In 1997, Terfel made his La Scala debut as Figaro. In 1998, he had a recital at Carnegie Hall, including works by Wolf, Fauré, Brahms, Schumann, Schubert, and others. In 1999, he performed in Paris the title role of Don Giovanni for the first time and sang his first Falstaff at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; the latter of which he reprised in the inaugural production at the newly refurbished Royal Opera House.

In 1999, Terfel performed the Rugby World Cup anthem "World in Union" with Shirley Bassey at the Millennium Stadium before the 1999 Rugby World Cup Final.

2000s

In 2000, Terfel said he would like to record "an album of Gilbert and Sullivan arias".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>[1] Template:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

In 2003, Terfel hosted and performed on the stage with opera tenor José Carreras and soprano Hayley Westenra in front of a capacity crowd of 10,000 people at the Faenol Festival in Wales.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2007, Terfel performed at the opening gala concert for the re-dedication of the Salt Lake Tabernacle with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir on 6–7 April. Later, he performed the title role in a concert version of Sweeney Todd that had four performances from 5–7 July at London's Royal Festival Hall. This idea came from Terfel, his fellow bass-baritone and friend, the Irishman Dermot Malone.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Terfel has not shied away from popular music either. He has recorded CDs of songs by Lerner and Loewe and Rodgers and Hammerstein. In 2001, he commissioned and performed 'Atgof o'r Sêr' ('Memory of the Stars') in the National Eisteddfod with the composer Robat Arwyn.

In September 2007, Terfel withdrew, to severe criticism, from Covent Garden's Der Ring des Nibelungen when his six-year-old son required several operations on his finger. But he successfully returned to the Met in November 2007 to sing the role of Figaro. He told reporters in New York City that he would retire Figaro from his repertoire. But he sang the role of Wotan in Covent Garden's revival of Der Ring from September to November 2012.

Terfel intended to take 2008 as a sabbatical from opera performances, but broke this to take the title role in WNO's revival of Falstaff. He had sung in this production in 1993, when he played the role of Ford.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2009, Terfel sang Scarpia and the Dutchman for the Royal Opera House.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Since 2010

In 2010, Terfel debuted as Hans Sachs in Wagner's Die Meistersinger in a production for Welsh National Opera, in Cardiff and on tour.

On 17 July 2010, the cast of this production gave a "concert staging" at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the 2010 BBC Proms, which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and BBC Four television.<ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead linkTemplate:Cbignore</ref> On 31 July, again at the Proms, he performed in a concert from the Royal Albert Hall celebrating the works of Stephen Sondheim, in his 80th birthday year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Terfel took on the role of Wotan for the premiere performances of Robert Lepage's new Met staging of Wagner's Der Ring, 2010–12. He sang the role in all three of the four Der Ring operas featuring Wotan: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre and Siegfried.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In September 2013, Terfel collaborated with Mormon Tabernacle Choir released the album Homeward Bound<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which reached No. 58 on the Official UK Charts.

In September 2014 Terfel reprised his role as Sweeney Todd in the Live from Lincoln Center concert production of Sweeney Todd, which was broadcast on PBS. This production also starred Emma Thompson as Mrs Lovett, Philip Quast as Judge Turpin, and Audra McDonald as The Beggar Woman.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Terfel, Thompson, and Quest reprised their roles in 2015 with the English National Opera opposite John Owen-Jones and Katie Hall as Pirelli and Johanna at the London Coliseum.<ref>Full casting and extra performance announced for Sweeney Todd starring Emma Thompson</ref>

In 2016, Terfel took the title role in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov, directed by Antonio Pappano at the Royal Opera House.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite webTemplate:Cbignore</ref>

On 6 May 2023, Terfel performed a setting in Welsh, by Paul Mealor, of Kyrie eleison at the Coronation of Charles III and Camilla in Westminster Abbey. This was the first time Welsh had been sung at a coronation service.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:YouTube</ref> On 7 May, he sang "You'll Never Walk Alone" in a duet with Andrea Bocelli at the Coronation Concert at Windsor Castle.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In February 2024, Terfel released a new album, Sea Songs, on Deutsche Grammophon.

In 2025, Terfel was one of the coaches in Y Llais, a Welsh-language version of The Voice UK.<ref name="S4C-Y_Llais2025">Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

Terfel was married to his childhood sweetheart, Lesley, in 1987 until their divorce in 2013. <ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The marriage produced three children.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2017, Terfel and harpist Hannah Stone had a daughter.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The couple married on 26 July 2019 at Caersalem Newydd Baptist Church in the bride's home city of Swansea.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Terfel was a leading petitioner in creating Bontnewydd railway station on the rebuilt Welsh Highland Railway and in part sponsored its construction.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Partial solo discography

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  • Bryn Terfel – Volume I (1988)
  • Bryn Terfel – Volume II (1990)
  • The Vagabond and Other Songs by Vaughan Williams, Butterworth, Finzi and Ireland (1995)
  • Something Wonderful (1996)
  • Handel Arias (1997)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
  • We'll Keep a Welcome (2000)
  • Some Enchanted Evening (2001)
  • Under the Stars (2003), with Renée Fleming
  • Bryn (2003)
  • Simple Gifts (2005)
  • Tutto Mozart! (2006)
  • First Love (2008), songs from the British Isles
  • Carols and Christmas Songs (2010)
  • Homeward Bound (2013), with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir
  • Dreams and Songs (2018)
  • Sea Songs (2024)

Template:Div col end Template:Clear

Welsh albums

Videography

Honours and awards

Terfel continues to be a patron of the Welsh language and Welsh culture, facets of his life which are largely unknown outside his native Wales. Terfel has been awarded the honour, by the National Eisteddfod, of membership of the Gorsedd of Bards. The Gorsedd was created in 1792 as a celebration of Welsh heritage, and inductees are considered to have contributed to Welsh culture.

In 2006, the Hamburg-based Alfred Toepfer Foundation awarded Terfel its annual Shakespeare Prize in recognition of his life's work.

Terfel was knighted in the 2017 New Year Honours for services to music.<ref>Template:London Gazette</ref>

Year Award Category Result
2000 Classic Brit Awards Male Artist of the Year Template:Won
2004 Template:Won
Album of the Year (Bryn) Template:Won
2005 Male Artist of the Year Template:Won
2007 Singer of the Year Template:Nom
Critic's Choice Template:Nom
2010 Male Artist of the Year Template:Nom
2011 Album of the Year (Carols & Christmas Songs) Template:Nom
2013 Grammy Awards Best Opera Recording (Metropolitan Opera's recording of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Won

Terfel is also president of the Welsh homelessness charity Shelter Cymru and is patron of Bobath Children's Therapy Centre Wales, a registered charity based in Cardiff which provides specialist Bobath therapy to children from all over Wales who have cerebral palsy.

Terfel is a vice president of the Dunvant Male Choir in Swansea, the oldest continuously singing Welsh choir, dating from 1895.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The choir sang at Terfel's wedding in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Faenol Festival

In 2000 Terfel founded the Faenol Festival (known in Welsh as "Gŵyl y Faenol"), at the Faenol Estate near Snowdonia, Wales. Billed as "Bryn Terfel's Faenol Festival" (often referred to as "BrynFest") turned into an annual music festival featuring internationally famous opera singers as well as popular Welsh artists. In the same year he released We'll Keep a Welcome – The Welsh Album, an anthology of favourite traditional songs. The festival had been voted a £250,000 grant by the Welsh Assembly, but did not take place in 2009 or 2010 and ended as of 2010.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Subsequently, the 2012 Faenol Festival took place in London.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Operatic repertoire

Terfel has performed the following roles on stage:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Composer Opera Role In repertoire Recorded
Britten Peter Grimes Balstrode 1995 No
Canepa Riccardo III Riccardo III 2018
Donizetti L'elisir d'amore Dulcamara 2001 Yes (DVD)
Donizetti Don Pasquale Don Pasquale 2019
Gounod Faust Mephistopheles 2004 Yes (DVD)
Mozart Così fan tutte Guglielmo 1991 No
Mozart Don Giovanni Masetto 1992 Yes
Mozart Don Giovanni Leporello 1991–present Yes
Mozart Don Giovanni Don Giovanni 1999–present Yes (DVD)
Mozart Die Zauberflöte Speaker 1991 No
Mozart Le nozze di Figaro Figaro 1991–2007 Yes (DVD)
Mussorgsky Boris Godunov Boris Godunov 2016
Offenbach Les contes d'Hoffmann Four Villains 2000 Yes (DVD)
Puccini Gianni Schicchi Gianni Schicchi 2007 No
Puccini Tosca Scarpia Yes
Puccini Madama Butterfly Sharpless 1996 No
R. Strauss Die Frau ohne Schatten Der Geisterbote 1992 Yes
R. Strauss Salome Jochanaan 1993 Yes
Sondheim Sweeney Todd Sweeney Todd 2002–present Yes: Live From Lincoln Center
Stravinsky The Rake's Progress Nick Shadow 1996–2000 Yes
Stravinsky Oedipus Rex Creon 1992 Yes
Verdi Falstaff Falstaff 1999–present Yes
Verdi Falstaff Ford 1993 Yes
Wagner Das Rheingold Donner 1993 No
Wagner Das Rheingold Wotan 2005–present Yes (DVD and Blu-ray)
Wagner Die Walküre Wotan 2005–present Yes (DVD and Blu-ray)
Wagner Siegfried The Wanderer 2011–present Yes (DVD and Blu-ray)
Wagner Tannhäuser Wolfram 1998 No
Wagner Der fliegende Holländer Holländer 2006–present Yes (DVD and Blu-ray)
Wagner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Hans Sachs 2010 Concert staging of Welsh National Opera production broadcast by BBC Radio 3 and BBC Four television as part of BBC Proms

See also

References

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