Nicholas Brownlee
bass-baritone
© Barbara Aumüller
The American bass-baritone Nicholas Brownlee joined the Ensemble at Oper Frankfurt in 2020/21. His dizzy making number of roles since then included Kreon in Oedipus Rex, Jochanaan and the Spirit Messenger in our unmissable productions of Salome and Die Frau ohne Schatten, De Siriex in a new Giordano's Fedora, the title roles in Szymanowski's Król (King) Roger and Bluebeard's Castle, Escamillo in Carmen, the title role in Don Giovanni and Hans Sachs (role debut) in a wonderful new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. During the 2024/25 season you can hear him in two new productions, singing the title role in Verdi's Macbeth and Amfortas in Parsifal, and he repeats his portrayal of Amonasro in the first revival of last season's new Aida. He also sang Kaspar in Der Freischütz at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Wotan in Das Rheingold at Dallas Opera and Colline in La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera, Bayerische Staatsoper and Los Angeles Opera and the title role in The Flying Dutchman in Santa Fe. Before coming to Frankfurt he was a member of the Ensemble at the Staatstheater in Karlsruhe, where roles included Melisso (Alcina), Enrico VIII (Anna Bolena), Count Capulet (Roméo et Juliette), Paolo Albiani (Simon Boccanegra), Kaspar (Der Freischütz), Leporello (Don Giovanni) and the Four Villains in Hoffmanns Erzählungen / The Tales of Hoffmann. He sang Mozart's Figaro, Nick Bottom in A Midsummer Night's Dream and Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde at Santa Fe Opera, where he returns soon forThe Flying Dutchman, and enjoyed great success jumping in at short notice to sing Enrico VIII in Anna Bolena at the Vienna State Opera. He has won many prizes, scholarships and competitions, including the 2015 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.