Anthony Michaels-Moore - Baritone
Grammy-nominated Baritone Anthony Michaels-Moore is the first British winner of the Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition (Philadelphia, 1985) and has since appeared regularly at many of the world’s top opera houses, and recorded and performed concert repertoire with many of the world’s leading orchestras and conductors of note. In a 30-year career Anthony has sung over 60 leading roles at the Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Opéra National de Paris, Bayerische Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper and Staatsoper Berlin, Opernhaus Zürich, the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera and numerous other stages across Europe, Asia and the Americas. His home theatre is the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden where his performances in leading roles totals more than 300. Opera News has praised Anthony with having “one of the most the most gorgeous voices on the stage today. …His sound has a real presence and its honeyed opulence dominated every scene in which he appeared.”
Anthony has distinguished himself as a specialist in Verdi and Puccini roles, most renowned for his portrayals of Rigoletto, Falstaff, Simon Boccanegra, Nabucco, Iago in Otello, Germont in La traviata, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, and Scarpia in Tosca. Of his Rigoletto at the ENO, The Times wrote, “As befits such a dark opera, deep voices dominate. Michaels-Moore’s Rigoletto is in a class apart because he somehow manages to be gloriously lyrical and terrifyingly baleful at the same time. He joins the notes together in beautifully sustained lines; a masterclass for young singers. Yet the power he musters is properly monstrous, and that is matched by his sinister lurches across the stage.”
Performance highlights in recent seasons include 2 world premiere operas, plus numerous house and role debuts. Most notably, Anthony made an exciting return to Teatro alla Scala, starring in the world premiere of Giorgio Battistelli’s opera C02, a work inspired by Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. Michaels-Moore earned high praise in the main role of climatologist Dr. David Adamson in a production directed by Robert Carsen. Wrote Mundoclasico, “una voz de importancia, de sólida técnica… Se mueve con gran distinción sin ser ‘frío’, y, primera vez que lo oigo cantar en su lengua materna, tiene una dicción y articulación del inglés que tiene un valor agregado incalculable.” Anthony also returned to The Santa Fe Opera in another highly-anticipated world premiere: Cold Mountain by the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Jennifer Higdon.
Anthony’s most recent house debuts include Nederlandse Reisopera (La Traviata, 2017), Opera Philadelphia (Cold Mountain, 2016) Lyric Opera of Kansas City (La traviata, 2015 ), Los Angeles Opera (Billy Budd, 2014), Theatro Municipal São Paulo (Aida, 2013), Teatro dell’Opera di Roma (Curlew River, 2013), Oper Leipzig (Nabucco, 2013), Korean National Opera (Falstaff, 2013), Oper Köln (Tosca, 2012), Sugi Opera (Tosca, 2012), Saito Kinen Festival in Japan (Madama Butterfly, 2012), Valencia’s La Palau de la Musica (Les Dialogues des Carmelites, 2011), Opernhaus Zürich (Falstaff, 2011), Opéra de Montréal (Rigoletto, 2010), and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées (Falstaff, 2010).
Michaels-Moore has performed with the world’s top conductors including Vladimir Jurowski, Fabio Luisi, André Previn, Riccardo Muti, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Neville Marriner, Sir Edward Downes, Sir Mark Elder, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Leonard Slatkin, Bernard Haitink, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Andris Nelsons, Seiji Ozawa, Daniele Gatti and James Conlon, in a repertoire ranging from Haydn’s Creation to Orff’s Carmina Burana. He has appeared at the First Night of the BBC Proms, and has performed with the Royal Concertgebouw Orkest, London Symphony Orchestra, and Wiener Philharmoniker. Most recently Anthony sang Bruckner’s Mass in F minor with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Daniel Harding and Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 at the Edinburgh International Festival lead by Donald Runnicles.
In 1995 Anthony was honoured with the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Award, the highest recognition for live classical music making in the United Kingdom. His most recent CD recording, Songs of the Sea, Songs of Travel, has been hailed by Classical Source as “A perfect gem sensitively performed…” It is available for purchase and digital download through all major music sources. Michaels-Moore’s discography also includes commercial recordings for Pentatone (Cold Mountain), Deutsche Grammophon (Carmina Burana), Sony (La Vestale, Lucia di Lammermoor), Teldec (Fairy Queen), Conifer (The Puccini Experience), Opera Rara (Mercadante’s Orazi e Curiazi), LSO Live (Peter Grimes), Philips (Yeoman of the Guard, Aroldo), BMG (La Favorite, Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater), Decca (Falstaff), and Chandos (A Masked Ball).
In addition to a Master of Music/Master of Arts degree in Opera from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and History from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne, Anthony holds a Postgraduate Certificate of Education from the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne. He began his career as a teacher in the English school system teaching Primary school age children in all subjects, including music. Since that time he has taught and presented Masterclasses all over the world including for the English National Opera Harewood Artists Programme, British Youth Opera, the Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University, the New Mexico School for the Arts, the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program for Singers, and the University of New Mexico. He is passionate about music education and helping to guide the next generation of great singers. For Masterclass inquiries or more information on Anthony’s private studio please visit Opera Studio de Santa Fe.
Anthony is also an avid road cyclist. He divides his time between Santa Fe, New Mexico and Prien am Chiemsee in Bavaria with his wife Emily and their two children.