User:Nfolwell

Nicholas Folwell is an operatic baritone. Born 11/07/1953 in Middlesex.

Career: Nicholas Folwell A.R.A.M., (Bass-Baritone) studied at the Royal Academy of Music, the London Opera Centre and with Raimund Herincx. He began his career at the Welsh National Opera, where his roles included Mozart’s Figaro and Leporello, Pizzaro, Melitone, Escamillo, The Poacher (The Cunning Little Vixen), Alberich and Melot and Klingsor which he recorded under Sir Reginald Goodall. He has also appeared with all the other major British opera companies in roles as diverse as Falke, The Chief of Police (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk), The Poacher (Vixen), Papageno, Mutius in the world premier of Stephen Oliver’s Timon of Athens, The Forester (Vixen), Sancho (Massenet’s Don Quixotte), Major Mary (Die Soldaten), The Music Master (Ariadne on Naxos), the title role in the world premier of Judith Weir’s Blond Eckbert and Mr van Tricasse in the world premier of Gavin Bryar’s Dr Ox’s Experiment, all at the English National Opera; he made his debut for the Royal Opera at Covent Garden as The Poacher under Sir Simon Rattle; he sang The Four Villains (The Tales of Hoffmann), Figaro, Alberich, Melitone and Creon & The Messenger (Oedipus Rex) for Scottish Opera; Pizzaro and Figaro for Glyndebourne Touring Opera; Beckmesser, Leporello and Count Laski (Chabrier’s Le Roi Malgré Lui) for Opera North; and Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Pizarro (Fidelio) and Benoit & Alcindoro (La Boheme) and various roles in Andrea Chénier for the Holland Park Festival. Outside of the U.K. he has sung Alberich, (Der Ring) in Nantes, Figaro for Opera Zuid in the Netherlands, Masetto for New Israeli Opera, Ottokar (Der Freischütz) at the Zwingenberger Festival, Marullo in Frankfurt, the world premier of Michael Scott’s Purgatory and later The Dreaming of the Bones in Dublin, Belcore (L’Elisir d’Amore), Germont (La Traviata) and Escamillo (Carmen) in Cork and Koroviev in the world premier of York Höller’s Der Meister und Margarita at the Paris Opera. He has also appeared in concert performances of several Kurt Weil stage works on the South Bank and with the London Sinfonietta and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle; and has broadcast often with the BBC including Zemlinsky’s Der Zwerg with Lothar Zargrosek, The Short Prisoner in Janacek’s From the House of the Dead, Harrison Birtwhistle’s The Mask of Orpheus, and The Fiery Angel at the Proms. His wide concert repertoire ranges from the classics, including Mahler’s 8th Symphony with Gary Bertini in Torino and The Dream of Gerontius with Yuri Simanov in Brussels to contemporary works such as the world premiers of Ian Hamilton’s Prometheus in Cambridge, Vinko Globokar’s Sternbild der Grenze in Paris and Claudio Ambrosini’s Proverbs of Hell for the RAI in Rome. Opera in concert performances include Pizzaro with Kurt Masur and the LPO at the Festival Hall, Paul in Die Tote Stadt at the QEH, Lysiart in Euranthe (Weber) with Mark Elder and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment at the QEH, Bluebeard in Duke Bluebeard’s Castle at the QEH, Simone Trovai in Violante by Erich Korngold and Méphistophélès in Faust et Hélène by Lili Boulanger at the QEH and the title role in Der Fliegende Holländer for Chelsea Opera also at the QEH.

Recent appearances include Alberich and Hunding in “The Ring” for Longborough Festival opera; a performance of Mahler’s 8th Symphony at the QEH with Martyn Brabbins, the Salamon Orchestra, the Crouch End CS and the Huddersfield CS, Sharpless (Butterfly) for E.N.O.; Don Inigo Gomez in L’Heure Espagnol and Le Chat & L’Horloge in L’Enfant et les Sortiléges for Opera Zuid in Maastricht; a concert performance of Beatrice & Benedict by Berlioz in Cambridge; he was the guest artist for the Shiney Row Male Voice Choir’s “Celebrity Concert”, sang Elijah for Congleton Choral Society and the title role in Paulus by Mendelssohn with the Guinness Choir in Dublin, Monterone for Opera Holland Park and sang the role of the Bosun in Billy Budd, The Host of the Garter in Sir John in Love, Antonio in The Marriage of Figaro, and Mr Kallenbach in Satyagraha all for ENO. He took the title role of Pope Clement VI in the world premier of “Light Passing” by Nicola LeFanu in York, which was broadcast by BBC radio 3 and filmed a new Judith Weir opera, called “Armida” for Channel 4 TV in Morocco which was shown on Christmas day 2006. He has presented concerts and sang on a classical music cruise on the German ship “The Deutschland” and has performed regularly on music cruises for P & O cruises. More recently he created the roles of The Beggar & Bishop Foliot in King by Stephen Barlow at Canterbury Cathedral, sang Alberich in Das Rheingold and Don Alfonso Cosi fan Tutte for LFO, Bartolo in Il Barbiere di Siviglia and Mumlal in The Two Widows by Smetana for Scottish Opera, The Commissar of Police in Rosenkavalier for ENO, The Doctor in Punch & Judy by Sir Harrison Birtwistle at the Linbury, Dreieinigkeits Moses in Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny for Opera Angers/Nantes in France, Alberich in Das Rheingold for the Nationale Reisopera in the Netherlands, Kuligin in Katya Kabanova for ENO, Brander in The Damnation of Faust for ENO and Antonio in Le Nozze di Figaro for the Royal Opera. Last year Nicholas joined Lesley Garrett and the pianist Andrew West on a very successful recital tour of the UK. More recently; Nachtigal in Die Meistersinger von Nurnberg for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Alberich in Siegfried in concert performance with Kent Nagano in Bergen, Norway, Longborough & the Nationale Reisopera and Antonio in Le Nozze di Figaro for Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

Future engagements include; Alberich in Götterdämerung for Reisopera, Lulu for WNO, Dreigroschenoper with Vladimir Yurovsky and the LPO, further performances of Antonio in Le Nozze di Figaro for Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Alberich and Gunther for Opera de Dijon.

Nicholas has a solo album called “A Dream of Paradise”, a collection of Ballads of the Victorian and Edwardian eras, which is on the Timbre record label. (www.timbre.co.uk)