Ashley Holland is establishing himself as one of the most sought-after young baritones for the 19th century Italian repertory on both sides of the Atlantic.
Following his highly-successful debut as Don Pedro in Donizetti's Maria Padilla with Minnesota Opera, he was immediately invited back for the role of Orazio in their new production of Mercadante's Orazi e Curiazi in 2006. In the same year, Ashley created the title role in the world premiere of Detlev Glanert's Caligula in Frankfurt and Cologne. His performances were critically acclaimed and he has been engaged to sing the role in the opera's revival in Frankfurt in 2009.
He studied at Warwick University and the Royal Northern College of Music, where he won the Webster Booth/Esso Competition and the Curtis Gold Medal.In 1995 he was the English representative in the Cardiff Singer of the World Competition and in 1998 he won the Ranieri I cestelli competizione dell' opera in Hamburg.
As a principal baritone at English National Opera, his roles included Ford Falstaff, Marquis de la Force The Carmelites, Mr Redburn Billy Budd, Germont La Traviata, Don Carlo Ernani, Belcore L'Elisir d'Amore, Zurga Pearl Fishers, Sharpless Madam Butterfly, Guglielmo Cosi fan tutte, Cecil Maria Stuarda, Lescaut Manon, Ottakar Der Freischutz, Marcello La Boheme and Escamillo Carmen. He also sang the baritone role in ENO's co-production with the Mark Morris Dance Group of Handel's L'Allegro .
Other engagements include his debut with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Masetto Don Giovanni, the title role in Don Giovanni for Calgary Opera, Sharpless Madama Butterfly Cincinnati Opera, his debut at the Bastille Opera as Bosun Billy Budd, Marcello La Bohème and Ford in Dresden; Creon Oedipus Rex Opera North; Junius The Rape of Lucretia Lausanne Opera, Enrico Lucia di Lammermoor Chicago Lyric Opera; Amfortas Parsifal Graz; Sharpless and Germont Opera Pacific; Ford with the Hallé Orchestra, Giacomo Giovanna d'Arco Chelsea Opera Group; La Vera Storia in Hamburg, Athanael Thaïs Grange Park Opera, Mahler's Kindertotenlieder in performances of Antony Tudor's Dark Elegies for the Rambert Dance Company in Aldeburgh and London.
His concert engagements include major tours of Mahler's 8th Symphony SWF Sinfonie Orchester/ Gielen (including his debut at the Vienna Musikverein), and the Orchestre National de Lille; Britten's War Requiem in London; Handel's Messiah Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra/Blomstedt; Messiah and Orff's Carmina Burana Hallé Orchestra; Antonio in concert performances of Linda di Chamounix Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Elder, Brahms' Requiem at The Barbican; The Dream of Gerontius at the Royal Albert Hall; St Matthew Passion English Chamber Orchestra; roles in Candide with LSO/Kent Nagano and in Weill's Der Protagonist and The Royal Palace with BBCSO/Sir Andrew Davis, Mahler's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen BBC Philharmonic/Sinaisky, Fauré Requiem and Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs Hong Kong Philharmonic, concerts with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and Bournemouth Symphony orchestras; and performances of Weill's Royal Palace and Lord Mountararat Iolanthe at the BBC Proms. His recordings include Belcore in The Elixir of Love and Ford in Falstaff with Paul Daniels (Chandos Records).
Recently Ashley has sung in Glass's Satyagraha at ENO, Mahler 8 with RTE Symphony Orchestra, Dublin, Count Capriccio at the Edinburgh International Festival and Sharpless Madame Butterfly, ENO. Future engagements include the revival of Caligula in Frankfurt, Capriccio in Cologne, his first Wolfram Tannhäuser in Graz, Francesco I Masnadieri and L'espace dernier in Frankfurt and Choregus in Birtwistle's Punch & Judy for ENO.
Ashley Holland is represented by Intermusica.
July 2008 / 563 words Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.