Gerald Finley, bass-baritone

Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley has become one of the leading singers and dramatic interpreters of his generation, with award-winning performances and recordings on CD and DVD with major labels and performing at the world’s major opera and concert venues in a wide variety of repertoire. His recent awards include a Grammy for Best Opera Recording 2012 (Dr. Atomic from the Met) and Best Solo Vocal Recording for his CD of Britten Songs (Hyperion) at the 2011 Classic FM Gramophone Awards for an unprecedented third time. This followed the same award in 2009 for Schumann's Heine settings as well as in 2008 for his CD on Hyperion of Songs by Samuel Barber. He was honoured at the 2009 Opera News Awards for distinguished achievement. His active relationship with leading conductors including Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Sir Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink, Alan Gilbert, Mariss Jansons and Antonio Pappano, has been part of a flourishing career.

As a recitalist, he works regularly with Julius Drake, appearing throughout Europe and North America. Recent recital appearances have included Tanglewood, Ravinia, and Edinburgh Festivals, and Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, San Francisco and at New York’s Carnegie-Zankel Hall, as well as the prestigious venues in Europe including Vienna, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Amsterdam, Brussels and London’s Wigmore Hall. Great successes at the Schwetzingen Festival and the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg has confirmed Mr Finley’s reputation as one of the foremost recitalists today.

In addition to a North American coast to coast song recital tours, he has had a residency at Wigmore Hall in programmes of Schubert, Liszt, Sibelius, and Rautavaara, culminating in Schubert's Schwanengesang, also presented at Schwarzenberg's Schubertiade. This season he will be resident at the Barbican Centre in London, presenting a recital with Sir Antonio Pappano, and further presenting concerts performances of contemporary work, True Fire by Kaija Saariaho, and Dr. Atomic, by John Adams. His recital work will continue at the Wiesbaden Festival and at Vienna's Konzerthaus.

Gerald Finley began singing as a chorister in Ottawa, Canada, and completed his musical studies in the UK at the Royal College of Music, King’s College, Cambridge, and the National Opera Studio with the support of the Friends of Covent Garden, the Worshipful Company of Musicians, the Keith B. Poole Scholarship and the Countess of Munster Musical Trust. He was a winner of Glyndebourne’s John Christie Award. He is a Visiting Professor and Fellow of the Royal College of Music. He currently continues his singing studies with Gary Coward in London.