Performance Database

Since early debuts at the Glyndebourne Festival, Opera North and English National Opera, Christopher Ventris has forged an international reputation as one of Britain's most successful tenors.

Wagnerian repertoire has been central to Christopher’s career in the last decade. He made his highly acclaimed debut at the Bayreuth Festival as Parsifal in Stefan Herheim’s production under Daniele Gatti - voted Production of the Year by Opernwelt magazine. He has also sung the role at the Wiener Staatsoper (under Franz Welser-Möst), Bayerische Staatsoper (Kent Nagano), Valencia’s Palau de les Arts (Lorin Maazel) and De Nederlandse Opera (Iván Fischer), and at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Opéra national de Paris, and at San Francisco and Seattle Operas. His portrayal of the role from Opernhaus Zürich, conducted by Bernard Haitink, is available on DVD from Deutsche Grammophon.

Christopher sang his first Lohengrin at Teatro Comunale de Bologna, and has reprised the role at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, Teatro Real Madrid and The Dallas Opera - the latter earning him the 2007 Maria Callas Debut Artist of the Year Award. He has sung Siegmund (Die Walküre) in Vienna (under Christian Thielemann and Sir Simon Rattle), Venice, Amsterdam and at Teatro di San Carlo. Paris saw his role debut as Tannhäuser under Sir Mark Elder and he sang his first Erik (Der fliegende Holländer) in San Francisco as well as the title role in the lesser-performed Rienzi at the Salzburg Festival under Philippe Jordan.

Other key roles in Christopher’s career include Steva (Jenůfa), which marked his debut at The Metropolitan Opera, Peter Grimes in Zürich and at Deutsche Oper Berlin, and Florestan (Fidelio) in his debut at Washington National Opera. Further appearances include Max (Der Freischütz) at Deutsche Oper Berlin and Teatro alla Scala; Sergei (Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk) in Geneva, Madrid, London and at La Monnaie; the title role in Pfitzner’s Palestrina in Munich, Jim Mahoney (Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny) at the Berlin and Vienna State Operas and Prince Andrey Khovansky (Khovanshchina) in Vienna under Semyon Bychkov.

The 2015/16 season brings Christopher’s return to the Bayreuth Festival as Siegmund, a role which further features in both Washington and Vienna. A debut at Teatro Colon as Parsifal is followed by Khovanshchina in Vienna, Peter Grimes at Deutsche Oper Berlin under Donald Runnicles and Der Freischütz in concert under Sir Mark Elder at London’s South Bank Centre.