Jonathan Stoughton
"Characterized by a very strong acting presence, the singer succeeded in a portrait (Parsifal) of immense humanistic sympathy. Vocally, Jonathan Stoughton also drew from the full with a youthfully bright, seamlessly led tenor, the singer seemed to feel visibly at home in the part. Soft cantilenas, excellent phrasing, fresh colors, fine dark tones of the middle register, a wonderful tonal timbre as well as the flowing legato to the best accent-free articulation, were his brilliant attributes and thus advanced to a celebrated audience magnet."
So cheered the press after his debut as Parsifal in April 2022 at the National Theater in Mannheim.
Following his debuts as Bacchus ('Ariadne auf Naxos'), Prince in Rusalka, and Siegfried ('Siegfried'), which were praised as "passionate, fresh, and promisingly effortless" [The Guardian], he has established himself as one of Britain's most exciting heldentenors. His repertoire includes Siegfried ('Siegfried' and 'Götterdämmerung') Bacchus, Erik, Florestan, Stolzing, Don José, Radames, Gustavo and Jimmy (Alwa in the American 'Lulu'). The 2017/18 season began for him with his debut at Opera North in the role of Turridu in the new production of 'Cavalleria rusticana'. In January 2019, he made his debut as Max in Krenek's 'Johnny spielt auf' at the Prague State Opera.
In 2019/20 he made his debut as Tristan and was heard in concert as Siegfried at Henry Wood Hall in London. He also made his debut at the Nationaltheater Mannheim as Kaiser in 'Die Frau ohne Schatten'. From the 2020/21 season he will be an ensemble member of the National Theater Mannheim, where he will sing the great roles of the German repertoire. Siegmund, Siegfried, Parsifal, Erik, Stolzing, Bacchus, Kaiser, etc.
At the Leipzig Opera in 2021 he was heard as Siegfried Ring in one evening. At the Nationaltheater Mannheim, he debuted as Einsiedel in the premiere of Simplicius Simplicissimus in May 2021, a role that was a great personal success for the attractive Heldentenor. At the Nationaltheater Mannheim, his long-awaited German debuts followed in April 2022 as Parsifal (see review), Erik and as Max in 'Der Freischütz'. The press wrote: "Kommt ein schlanker Bursch'gegangen mused Ännchen, for true he came along in the shape of Jonathan Stoughton and advanced to the vocal ideal of Max. His wonderfully timbred tenor excellently climbed the radiant heights, lent the part the masculine, tart note with a pithy, melodious middle register in the best intonation. In an excellent way, the intelligent singer knew how to effectively combine the lyrical sequences with dramatic overtones."
Siegmund and Siegfried followed in the summer of 2022 in the new production of 'Der Ring des Nibelungen' at the Nationaltheater Mannheim. Here, too, the press and the audience cheered
"...blessed with magnificent timbre, economically intelligently divided forces, the British singer almost bravura interpreted a top class Siegfried. The rhythmic, dynamic precision, the wonderful sonority, his imposing legato predestine him as a Wagner tenor for the very first houses. Stoughton mastered the octave intervals with aplomb, took the meaning of the word very seriously, gave the Wälsungen scion a human, psychologically well thought-out profile with pleasantly balanced, beautifully voiced, brightly radiant tenor means. Not for the sake of emotional melodic composition, the intensely moving vocalise of the death scene Brünnhilde, heilige Braut alone made many an eye overflow with emotion."
In May 2023 will be seen as Florestan in the new production of Fidelio at the Staatstheater in Augsburg.
