Welcome to Melba Recording
Stuart Skelton
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Stuart Skelton - Heldentenor 
 
WINNER OF THE INAUGURAL PRIX LAURITZ MELCHIOR 

Stuart Skelton has emerged as one of the finest heroic tenors of his generation. His repertoire encompasses some of opera’s most challenging roles, from Wagner's Lohengrin, Parsifal, Siegmund and Rienzi to Strauss’s Kaiser and Bacchus, Saint-Saëns’ Samson, Dvorak's Dmitrij and Prince, Beethoven's Florestan and Britten’s Peter Grimes. He has garnered critical acclaim particularly for his vocal beauty, superb musicianship and the dramatic intensity of his portrayals.
 
Stuart has made regular appearances on the leading opera and concert stages of the world including: the Vienna State Opera, both the Deutsche and State Operas in Berlin, Hamburg State Opera, Paris Opera, San Francisco Opera, the Metropolitan Opera New York, Teatro Real Madrid, Opera Australia, Carnegie Hall and orchestras including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Boston Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, St Louis Symphony, London Symphony Orchestra, Leipzig Gewandhaus, the radio symphonies in Hamburg, Munich and Frankfurt, BBC Proms and the Edinburgh Festival.
 
He has sung with renowned conductors Daniel Barenboim, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Christoph Eschenbach, Asher Fisch, Mariss Jansons, Lorin Maazel, Sir Charles Mackerras, David Robertson, Donald Runnicles, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Simone Young and Sebastian Weigle, encompassing roles including: Lohengrin, Parsifal, Siegmund, Erik, Rienzi, Peter Grimes, Kaiser, Florestan, Laca, Samson, Bacchus, Don Jose, Oedipus Rex and The Prince in Rusalka, Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 and Missa Solemnis, Dvorak’s and Verdi’s Requiem, Janacek's Glagolitic Mass, The Dream of Gerontius and Das Lied von der Erde and Das Klagende Lied of Mahler.
 
Future plans include his return to the English National Opera in new productions of Peter Grimes and Kát'a Kabanová, a return to Australia in a new production of Peter Grimes in Sydney and A Streetcar Named Desire in Melbourne, both for Opera Australia, as well as Der fliegende Holländer for State Opera of South Australia. Stuart also makes his Seattle Opera debut as Siegmund in Der Ring des Nibelungen, his Cleveland Orchestra debut with Glagolitic Mass and Psalmus Hungaricus both under Franz Welser-Moest, his debut with the Chicago Symphony in Das Lied von der Erde under James Conlon and a return to the San Francisco Opera in a new production of Vec Makropoulos.

What the critics are saying about Stuart Skelton

Erik (The Flying Dutchman), State Opera of South Australia
 
'Tenor Stuart Skelton adds yet further depth as Erik, Senta’s hapless suitor. He sings with wonderful control and elicits genuine sympathy with his hopeless affections: the Dutchman is not the only one to suffer fate’s raw deal.'
Graham Strahle, The Australian, November 9 2009

'It’s the casting of Stuart Skelton, a superb Siegmund in the Ring that sets the seal on the male roles, handsome, warm and totally credible.'
Ewart Shaw, The Advertiser, November 9 2009

Peter Grimes (Peter Grimes), Opera Australia
'Singing Grimes, Skelton achieves immaculate control and precision without losing the roughness of character. His voice flashes with power yet achieves a mystical serenity in the sustained high notes of the great aria The Great Bear and the Pleiades with which Grimes interrupts the venal pleasures of the locals in the storm-swept pub.
Skelton shambles, smiles, loses control, flashes with anger and becomes possessed by the vision that destroys him in a performance that could scarcely be bettered.'
Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald, October 19 2009

'Tenor Stuart Skelton's sympathetic interpretation of Peter Grimes matches Armfield's conception brilliantly. His Grimes is a socially awkward misfit who feels misunderstood and persecuted. Obsessively single-minded in proving his social worth, he's rough but not brutal. When he strikes Ellen Orford, it is a spontaneous lashing out in frustration rather than a deliberate act of callous violence.

Vocally, Skelton is magnificent. His ringing tonal clarity and resounding power capture his character's resolute strength, while the focused sensitivity and scrupulous dynamic control of his exquisite sotto voce singing create unforgettable moments of searing beauty. When he sang the role in London earlier this year he was favourably compared with the likes of Peter Pears, Jon Vickers and Philip Langridge. On the evidence of this performance, it was not hyperbole. He really is that good.'
Murray Black The Australian, October 20, 2009

'Stuart Skelton as Peter Grimes gives a performance of explosive intensity. His heavy-set, shambling Grimes is ogre one minute, gentle giant the next, and he sketches out each facet with equally unflinching honesty. His voice is massive, a true Heldentenor, but plumbs extraordinarily lyrical depths: the pianissimo beginning to his "Now the Great Bear and Pleiades" is a moment of finely-wrought beauty; his mad scene, an astonishing piece of visceral virtuosity.'
Sarah Noble, The Opera Critic October 2009

Visit Stuart Skelton's website at www.stuartskelton.com.

2010 Schedule
 
Janaury 22, Radio Telefis Eireann, National Symphony Dublin, Ireland, Mahler Das Lied von der Erde 
February 8, March 28, English National Opera, London, UK, Janáček Kat'a Kabanova (Boris)
March 15, 17, 20, 22, 24, 27. English National Opera, London. Janáček Katya Kabanova (Boris Grigoryevich).
May 7, 9, 11, 14, 17. Opéra National de Bordeaux, France. Janáček Jenůfa (Laca Klemen)
May 26, 28, 29, Sydney Symphony Orchestra, Mahler Das Lied von der Erde
June 8 - 12, Residentie Orkest Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Mahler Das Klagende Lied
August 7, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 21, Western Australian Opera, Perth, Leoncavallo I pagliacci (Canio) 
October 4 - 25 (TBA), ABAO, Opera de Bilbao, Spain, Floyd Susannah (Sam) 

Melba Recordings performances:
MR301091-94: Wagner: Die Walküre

 
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