Gwynne Howell, one of the world's leading basses, was born near Swansea. He obtained degrees from the University College of Wales and Manchester University before pursuing his vocal studies at the Royal Northern College of Music.
Recent engagements include for Welsh National Opera Poppea (televised and
serialized by BBC Television); for English National Opera The Croucher in the
world premiere of The Silver Tassie by Mark Anthony Turnage, Bolkonsky/War
and Peace, Schigolch/Lulu, Dansker/Billy Budd and King/Aida;
for Glyndebourne productions of Pelléas et Mélisande, Manon Lescaut,
Don Giovanni, Figaro and Otello; for Covent Garden Old
Convict in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk and the world première of The
Tempest by Thomas Adès, which he also sang in Santa Fe. Future engagements
include Dansker/Billy Budd in Houston, Bartolo/Le nozze di Figaro
in Santa Fe, and Jack Wallace/La Fanciulla del West
and Schigolch /Lulu for Covent Garden.
After several successful years with Sadlers Wells Opera,
Gwynne Howell moved to the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, where he has sung
most of the major bass roles with the company in productions including Aida,
Rigoletto, Ballo in Maschera, Luisa Miller, Don Carlos, Simon
Boccanegra, Otello, Forza del Destino, Boheme, Tosca, Don Giovanni, Eugene
Onegin, Peter Grimes, Billy Budd, Parsifal, Tannhauser, Das Rheingold, Tristan
und Isolde, Parsifal, Die Meistersinger, Die Zauberflöte, Khovanshchina, Boris
Godunov, Norma, Fidelio, The Flying Dutchman, Katya Kabanova, Le Nozze di
Figaro, Salome, Pilgrim's Progress, Mathis der Maler, Palestrina (including
a tour to The Met, New York), and Stiffelio.
Gwynne Howell has returned regularly as a guest to English National Opera, most
notably as Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger, for the title role in
Bartok's Bluebeard's Castle (which earned him enormous critical acclaim),
Gurnemanz (with Sir Reginald Goodall), Banquo (Macbeth), Fidelio, Ariodante,
and Khovanshchina. He also sang King Philip in a new production of
Don Carlos for English National Opera - "Then the magic happened - on his
earlier entrance Gwynne Howell as Philip II had sung everybody else off the
stage. Now, in his wonderful aria of lamentation, he brought the whole
performance to life and raised it to a higher plane of artistry."
Other operatic engagements have included King Mark (Tristan) conducted by
Sir Reginald Goodall for WNO, Iolanta for Opera North, The Magic Flute
and Ermione for Glyndebourne, the world première of Peter Maxwell-Davies'
The Doctor of Mydffai at Welsh National Opera, and concert performances
of Les Troyens with Sir Colin Davis and the LSO.
International performances have taken him to the Metropolitan Opera New York,
the Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco, Santa Fe, Toronto, Hamburg, Cologne,
Munich, Paris, Geneva and Bruxelles.
Gwynne Howell enjoys a highly successful concert career and has appeared all
over the world with many leading conductors such as Abbado, Davis, Dorati,
Barenboim, Boulez, Bernstein, Giulini, Muti, Maazel, Ozawa, Mehta, Levine,
Haitink and Sinopoli. Since making his US debut with the Chicago Symphony
Orchestra and Solti he has returned regularly for concerts with both that
orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra and also for concert performances of
Oedipus Rex and Fidelio with Solti in Chicago, Bluebeard's
Castle with Ozawa in Boston and, most recently, Oedipus Rex with the
New York Philharmonic
His many recordings include Mahler 8 with Ozawa and the Boston Symphony
Orchestra, Ballo in Maschera and Luisa Miller and Rossini's
Stabat Mater with Muti, Tristan with Goodall, the Messiah with
Solti, and Beethoven 9 with Kurt Masur. He has recently completed a new
recording of Un Ballo in Maschera for Teldec.
In 1998 he was awarded the Commander of the British Empire CBE.
(May 2008. Please discard previously dated materials and contact publicity@colbertartists.com before making any alterations or cuts.)
