Full Biography

Anthony Michaels-Moore studied at Newcastle University and at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama. He was the first British winner of the Luciano Pavarotti Competition in 1985 and has since become a familiar figure with leading opera theatres around the world. He has had a long and fruitful relationship with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. After his début in 1987, he has returned for several productions, including L’Elisir d’amore (Belcore), La Bohème (Marcello), I pagliacci (Silvio), Die Fledermaus (Falke), Il barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro), Cunning Little Vixen (Forester), Massenet’s Manon (Lescaut), Stiffelio (Stankar), Tosca (Scarpia), concert performances of the early version of Simon Boccanegra (title role), Macbeth (title role), Le nozze di Figaro (Count), Andrea Chénier (Gérard), and La Battaglia di Legnano (Rolando).

He has also performed with other major British opera theatres. For English National Opera he has appeared in Pearl Fishers (Zurga), La Bohème (Marcello), Figaro’s Wedding (Count), The Queen of Spades (Yeletsky), and Eugene Onegin (title role); with Opera North he has appeared in Carmen (Escamillo), La Bohème (Marcello), The Marriage of Figaro (title role), La Traviata (Germont), Don Carlos (Posa), and Hamlet (title role). Welsh National Opera has seen him in The Barber of Seville (title role) and Eugene Onegin (title role).

Anthony Michaels-Moore has appeared with all the major opera theatres throughout Europe, including Teatro alla Scala in La vestale (Licinius) under Riccardo Muti and Linda di Chamounix (Antonio); Vienna State Opera in Manon Lescaut (Lescaut), L’Elisir d’amore (Belcore), Il barbiere di Siviglia (title role), Stiffelio (Stankar), Carmen (Escamillo) and I vespri siciliani (Montforte); the Metropolitan Opera in La Bohème (Marcello) and Lucia di Lammermoor (Enrico); San Francisco Opera in Eugene Onegin (title role), Don Carlos (Posa) and Lucia di Lammermoor (Enrico), Opera de Paris in Madama Butterfly (Sharpless), Iphigénie en Tauride (Oreste), Le nozze di Figaro (Count) and Eugene Onegin (title role); Théâtre la Monnaie, Brussels in Rigoletto (title role), Toulouse Opera in Il trovatore (Di Luna); San Carlo Napoli in Manon Lescaut (Lescaut), and La Bohème (Marcello) directed by Zeffirelli; Teatro del Liceu, Barcelona in Il barbiere di Siviglia (title role); Oviedo Festival, Spain in La Bohème (Marcello), Il barbiere di Siviglia (title role) and L’Elisir d’amore (Belcore); Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich in Le nozze di Figaro (Count) and Tosca (Scarpia); the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Eugene Onegin (title role); and Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires in Andrea Chénier (Gérard).

Recent engagements include performances as Posa, Rigoletto, Scarpia, Montforte, Antonio and Nabucco in Vienna; Falstaff (Ford), di Luna, and Montforte at the Bastille; Attila (Ezio) at Chicago’s Lyric Opera; Enrico, Germont, and Marcello at the Metropolitan Opera; Scarpia, Ezio, Macbeth, Enrico, and Ford at the Royal Opera House - Covent Garden; I due Foscari (Francesco Foscari) in Brussels; Enrico in Barcelona and Madrid; Cavalleria rusticana (Alfio) and Pagliacci (Tonio) in San Francisco; Simon Boccanegra (title role) at the Santa Fe Opera, Iago in Bilbao; Macbeth at the Macerata Festival; Iago at the Châtelet in Paris and for the Glyndebourne Festival; and his first Un ballo in maschera (Renato) in Pittsburgh.

Current and future engagements include De Guiche in Alfano’s Cyrano di Bergerac and Giorgio Germont with the Metropolitan Opera; Giorgio Germont at the Royal Opera House - Covent Garden; Rigoletto in Vienna and with the Netherlands Opera; Andrea Chenier (Carlo Gerard) with Scottish Opera; and La forza del destino (Don Carlo) at the Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin; and his first performances of the role of Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West with Florida Grand Opera.

Anthony Michaels-Moore has appeared with leading conductors around the world including Sir Colin Davis, Riccardo Muti, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir David Willcocks, Sir Andrew Davis, Neeme Järvi, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, André Previn, Leonard Slatkin, Bernard Haitink, John Eliot Gardiner, and Sir Neville Marriner. Recent concert engagements for Anthony Michaels-Moore include a tour of Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with Harnoncourt and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in Berlin; his first Damnation de Faust in Vienna; Peter Grimes (Balstrode) with the London Symphony Orchestra and Colin Davis in London and New York; Oedipus Rex with the BBC Symphony Orchestra; Carmina Burana with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, La Scala Milan, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; Dream of Gerontius with the London Symphony Orchestra; Purcell’s Fairy Queen with Concentus Musicus in Vienna’s Musikverein. On two occasions he has opened the BBC Proms Season: in 1995 with Mahler’s Eighth Symphony and in 1997 with Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis. He returned in 1998 for The Apostles and in 1999 for The Kingdom, both with Andrew Davis.

Mr Michaels-Moore has appeared frequently on television including Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with the Philharmonia Orchestra and also with the BBC Symphony Orchestra as well as Dream of Gerontius with the Ulster Orchestra for BBC Northern Ireland. His recordings include Szymanowski’s Stabat Mater for BMG Classics under Claus Peter Flor, Carmina Burana for Deutsche Grammophon under André Previn, La vestale conducted by Riccardo Muti for Sony, Fairy Queen for Teldec Classics under Harnoncourt, Puccini arias for Conifer with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden Orchestra conducted by Sir Edward Downes, Mercadante’s Orazi e Curiazi (Orazio) for Opera Rara with the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by David Parry, Opera Spectacular for RPO Records, Yeoman of the Guard for Philips Classics conducted by Sir Neville Marriner, Mendelssohn’s Erste Walpurgisnacht with the Philharmonia Orchestra, and La Favorita (Alphonse) conducted by Marcello Viotti for BMG Classics and Lucia di Lammermoor (Enrico) conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras for Sony. Most recent releases include Falstaff (Ford) conducted by John Eliot Gardiner, and Aroldo (Egberto) conducted by Fabio Luisi for Philips Classics, and A Masked Ball (Renato) for Chandos.