Charles Workman, Tenor

Charles Workman is a versatile artist whose early career saw him in the forefront of Rossini and Mozart tenors and who has more recently garnered praise for his performances in dramatic and Heldentenor roles as well as 20th Century and contemporary opera.  

 

Following early debuts at the Metropolitan Opera and other American opera houses, Workman moved to Europe in 1995 where he has performed to great success with its leading opera companies and orchestras, including the Salzburg Festival, Paris Opera, London Royal Opera Covent Garden, Milan La Scala, Vienna Staatsoper, Moscow Bolshoi, Madrid Teatro Real, Barcelona Liceu, Berlin Staatsoper, Venice La Fenice, and the opera houses of Geneva, Zurich, Lyon, Brussels, Munich, Hamburg, Rome, Prague, Tel Aviv and Warsaw.

 

Recent performances include Laca Klemeň in Jenůfa (Rome Teatro dell’Opera), Walter in Die Passagierin (Munich Bayerische Staatsoper), Aegisth in Elektra (London Royal Opera Covent Garden), Yannakos in Martinů’s The Greek Passion (Salzburg Festival), Polonius in Brett Dean’s Hamlet (Munich Bayerische Staatsoper), Malatestino dall’Occhio in Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Éléazar in La Juive (Hannover Staatsoper), the title roles of Les contes d’Hoffmann (Tel Aviv Israeli Opera), La clemenza di Tito (Lucerne Festival and Salzburg with Cecilia Bartoli), Il ritorno di Ulisse in Patria (Florence Maggio Musicale) and Idomeneo (Rome Teatro dell’Opera), as well as the roles of Boris in Káťa Kabanová (Rome Teatro dell’Opera), Tempo in Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (Salzburg Festival), Alwa in Lulu (Hamburg Staatsoper and Vienna Staatsoper), Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos (Vienna Staatsoper and Munich Bayerische Staatsoper), Paul in Die Tote Stadt (Hamburg Staatsoper and Meiningen Staatstheater), Edmund in Reimann's Lear (Salzburg Festival), Nobile in the world and UK premieres of Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel (Salzburg Festival and Royal Opera Covent Garden), Der Tambourmajor in Wozzeck (Geneva Grand Théâtre), Albert Gregor in The Makropulos Case (San Francisco Opera), and the title role of La Damnation de Faust and Alviano in Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten (both for Opéra de Lyon).

 

Upcoming engagements include Nagg in Kurtag’s Fin de partie (Vienna Staatsoper), Walter in Die Passagierin (Munich Bayerische Staatsoper), Herodes in Salome (Naples Teatro San Carlo and Palermo Teatro Massimo), and Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (Erl Tiroler Festspiele).

 

Charles Workman is a graduate of the Juilliard School and is a citizen of Switzerland and of the United Kingdom.

 

(June 2024)