Guest ArtistsBarry Banks, tenor

Barry Banks’ outstanding facility in roles by Bellini, Rossini and Donizetti regularly takes him to the world’s leading opera houses.

With The Metropolitan Opera he has partnered Renée Fleming in Rossini’s Armida, Natalie Dessay in La fille du régiment and La sonnambula, Olga Borodina in L’italiana in Algeri and Anna Netrebko in Don Pasquale and L’elisir d’amore.

Notable opera performances have included Banks’ debut as Arnold (Guillaume Tell) at Welsh National Opera, the title role in Mitridate, re di Ponto and Don Narciso (Il turco in Italia) at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Ernesto (Don Pasquale) at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Count Almaviva at Staatsoper Unter den Linden, Idreno (Semiramide) at the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples and in his debut at Royal Danish Opera, and Iago in Rossini’s Otello at both Théâtre des Champs-Elysées and Salzburger Festspiele. The role of Don Ramiro (La cenerentola) saw his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and Oreste (Ermione) marked his debut at the Santa Fe Festival.

During his long association with English National Opera he has appeared as Tamino, Tom Rakewell (The Rake’s Progress), Edgardo (in David Alden’s acclaimed production of Lucia di Lammermoor), Hoffmann (The Tales of Hoffmann) and, most recently, the Duke of Mantua in Rigoletto.

In concert Mr. Banks has performed Berlioz’ Grand Messe des Morts under Sir Colin Davis and the London Symphony Orchestra, a recording of which was released to considerable acclaim on LSO Live. He sang in Britten’s War Requiem at the Teatro alla Scala under Xian Zhang, The Dream of Gerontius with the Münchner Philharmoniker under Sir Andrew Davis and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Daniele Gatti.

Current season highlights include Arturo (I puritani) for Welsh National Opera under Carlo Rizzi, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Swedish Chamber Orchestra under Thomas Dausgaard, Carmina Burana in the Czech Philharmonic’s New Year’s Day concert conducted by Jakub Hrůša, Mahler Symphony No. 8 with the Utah Symphony Orchestra under Thierry Fischer and Beethoven’s oratorio Christ at the Mount of Olives with the Orquesta de la Comunidad de Madrid conducted by Fabio Biondi.

Barry Banks’ discography includes Mitridate with Classical Opera Company (Ian Page), The Elixir of Love, The Italian Girl in Algiers, Don Pasquale, Don Giovanni, The Thieving Magpie and The Magic Flute in the Opera in English series for Chandos. DVD releases include Armida from The Metropolitan Opera. His solo recital disc for Chandos – Barry Banks Sings Bel Canto Arias – received substantial critical acclaim.