© Simon Pauly
Bass-Baritone
Derek Welton
"this prodigiously gifted young singer clearly is on the way to becoming a major international star"
- MusicOMH
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Artist Profile
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Upcoming Past
Jun 2023
14.
19:30
19:30
Kent Nagano, Conductor
Jul 2023
25.
16:00
16:00
Pablo Heras-Casado, Conductor
Jay Scheib, Stage Director
Jul 2023
30.
16:00
16:00
Pablo Heras-Casado, Conductor
Jay Scheib, Stage Director
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Apr 2023
16.
17:30
17:30
Philippe Jordan, Conductor
Kirill Serebrennikov, Stage Director
Apr 2023
12.
17:30
17:30
Philippe Jordan, Conductor
Kirill Serebrennikov, Stage Director
Apr 2023
9.
17:30
17:30
Philippe Jordan, Conductor
Kirill Serebrennikov, Stage Director
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Biography Highlights
Current engagements
Returns to Deutsche Oper Berlin as Der Pförtner Das Wunder der Heliane, Bayreuth Festival as Amfortas in the new production of Parsifal, Klingsor Parsifal Wiener Staatsoper, Pangloss Candide Opéra de Lyon, König Der Schatzgräber Opéra National du Rhin, Wanderer in Act 3 of Siegfried Sinfonieorchester Basel, Wotan in extracts of Die Walküre Orchestre National de Lille, role débuts as Amfortas Parsifal Orquesta de Extremadura, Orest Elektra Victorian Opera, König Marke in Act 2 of Tristan und Isolde Düsseldorfer Symphoniker.
Other engagements
Regular guest at companies such as the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Salzburg Festival, Wiener Staatsoper, Bayreuth Festival, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Staatsoper Hamburg, Opéra National de Paris, Bolshoi Theatre, Dutch National Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago, in roles such as Wotan Das Rheingold, Klingsor Parsifal, Heerrufer des Königs Lohengrin, Orest Elektra, Vater Hänsel und Gretel, Herzog von Albany Lear, Voland Der Meister und Margarita, Bluebeard Bluebeard’s Castle, Pizarro Fidelio, Forester The Cunning Little Vixen, Prus The Makropulos Case, Saint-Bris Les Huguenots, Pandolfe Cendrillon, Figaro Le nozze di Figaro and Créon Œdipus Rex.
Concerts
On the concert platform, Welton has performed with many prestigious orchestras including London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, Hallé Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Concerto Köln in repertoire including Bach’s St Matthew Passion, St John Passion and Mass in B minor, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, Beethoven’s Symphony No 9, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Tippett’s A Child of our Time.
Portraits
© Simon Pauly
© Bettina Stöß
© Michael Pöhn
© Jeff Busby
© Monika Rittershaus
Korngold - Das Wunder der Heliane Der Pförtner
Korngold - Das Wunder der Heliane Der Pförtner
Wagner - Das Rheingold - Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge (Wotan)
Wagner - Das Rheingold - Abendlich strahlt der Sonne Auge (Wotan)
Derek Welton - Handel - Messiah - The people that walked in darkness
Derek Welton - Handel - Messiah - The people that walked in darkness
Discography
Reviews & Press
Wiener Staatsoper - Strauss - Elektra - Orest
Derek Welton was an Orest of extraordinarily beautiful singing and, on top of that, extremely clear diction. His technique allows him even with his entrance, “Ich muss hier warten…”, to project the precarious bass notes over the orchestra in a well-carrying piano.
- Helmut Pitsch , Opera Online
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Derek Welton was an Orest of extraordinarily beautiful singing and, on top of that, extremely clear diction. His technique allows him even with his entrance, “Ich muss hier warten…”, to project the precarious bass notes over the orchestra in a well-carrying piano.
- Karl Masek , Online Merker
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Deutsche Oper Berlin - Wagner - Das Rheingold - Wotan
Derek Welton has found his star role in the somewhat higher-lying part of the Rheingold Wotan. With declamatory brilliance together with confident vocal production and cultivated articulation, he portrayed this complex figure in all his multidimensionality.
- Philipp Richter , Das Opernmagazin
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Royal Opera House - Wagner - Lohengrin - Herald
Australian bass-baritone Derek Welton made an auspicious house debut as the Herald – a Wotan and Klingsor in Berlin, he used his rich, expressive voice to telling effect, turning this relatively small role into a major one, commanding attention whenever he appeared on stage. On the basis of this showing, he's richly deserved an invitation to return
- Keith McDonnell , Music OMH
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Derek Welton made for an uncommonly vivid Herald, hinting intriguingly at psychological complications from a wartime past.
- Mark Berry , Opera Today
Australian-born Derek Welton was striking as the Herald, a classy bass-baritone with plenty of dramatic charisma.
- Clive Paget , Musical America
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Opera North - Wagner - Parsifal - Klingsor
Australian bass-baritone Derek Welton has sung the role of Klingsor many times before, most notably in Bayreuth and in Berlin, and it showed. Not only was he thoroughly inside the character, but his singing was effortlessly produced. In a role that is so often ‘barked’ it was an unalloyed delight to hear it actually sung, and sung so well. I can’t think of a better interpreter of the role today — and he's certainly the best since Donald McIntyre sang it in the late ’60s. Having also sung Wotan (Das Rheingold) in Berlin, this prodigiously gifted young singer clearly is on the way to becoming a major international star.
- Keith McDonnell , Music OMH
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Derek Welton’s Klingsor proved another vocal highlight. His steely baritone made light work of Wagner’s dramatic Act two orchestration. His voice has a commanding – one might even say enchanting – fullness and heft that established his status and authority in this relatively spare staging, not least during a thrilling summoning of Kundry at the top of Act two.
- Benjamin Poore , OperaWire
Opéra national du Rhin - Schreker - Der Schatzgräber - King
With pleasure we rediscover the excellent Derek Welton, a young bass-baritone of generous projection who endows the King with an indisputable presence
- Bertrand Bolognesi , Anaclase
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An almost perfect cast, with the superb King of Derek Welton
- Didier van Moere , Díapason
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A great performance by Derek Welton, whose full and sonorous instrument perfectly suits the status of this King, unable to understand what is really at stake.
- David Verdier , Wanderer
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Opéra de Lyon - Bernstein - Candide - Pangloss
Derek Welton sings the role of Pangloss in a deep, ebony-sounding voice.
- Damien Dutilleul , Olyrix
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Derek Welton sings the arias of Pangloss with a sumptuous legato
- Emmanuel Dupuy , Díapason
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Orchestre National de Lille - Wagner - Walküre
The voice of Derek Welton then fills the space for a splendid moment
Nord Littoral
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It is Derek Welton, already heard in several Wagnerian roles in which he attracted positive attention, who makes his entrance onto the stage of the vast Lille auditorium to portray “Wotan’s Farewell”. Endowed with a magnificently dark and superbly steely tone, the Australian bass-baritone draws tears in the Wanderer’s farewell to his daughter Brünnhilde, which he concludes with a whisper, “Thus he takes away your divinity with a kiss!
- Emmanuel Andrieu , ConcertoNet.com
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Orquesta de Extremadura - Wagner - Parsifal
Australian bass Derek Welton took on the roles of Klingsor and Amfortas, and in addition to a luminous and resounding instrument, of indisputable authority, he demonstrated extraordinary expressive versatility, with a theatrical intensity that made any other stage device unnecessary.
- José María Marco , Opera Actual
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Derek Welton filled the entire room with the forcefulness and power of his voice in his double role of Amfortas and Klingsor. As the first character, in the first act, he combined the clarity of his luminous voice with the depth of his middle and low registers. But the most important thing was a masterful interpretation of all the psychological complexity of Amfortas, of the endlessness of his physical and spiritual pain, launching an “Erbarmen” that, due to his truly moving tones, made us participants in the anguish that invades him. And as Klingsor, he summoned up more dramatic tones, with an overwhelming sound and authentic evil in the way he said each sentence.
