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GERALD FINLEY - This Canadian baritone has become one of the leading singers and dramatic interpreters of his generation, recording with major labels and performing at the world’s major opera and concert venues in a wide variety of repertoire, all to critical acclaim. He was honoured to receive the Editor’s Choice Award at the 2006 Classic FM Gramophone Awards. His active relationship with leading conductors including Nicklaus Harnoncourt, Sir Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitink and Antonio Pappano has been part of a flourishing career. Gerald Finley began his opera work in the Mozart roles at Glyndebourne and now includes a variety of leading roles in the world’s opera houses including London, Berlin, Paris, Salzburg, Vienna, Amsterdam, New York, Chicago and San Francisco. At the Royal Opera Covent Garden his roles include Don Giovanni, Count, Figaro, Creonte in Haydn’s L’anima del filosofo, the Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen, Germont in La Traviata, Tchaikovsky’s Yeletsky, Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande and, most recently, Eugene Onegin. His critically acclaimed work worldwide has encompassed the baritone roles of Mozart (Don Giovanni, Count, Figaro, Papageno, Guglielmo), Handel (Argante, Achilles, Garibaldo), Britten (Sid, Owen Wingrave, Demetrius) and Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. He has had outstanding success in creating leading roles in recent world premieres, most notably as J. Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams' Doctor Atomic at San Francisco Opera, the Netherlands Opera and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. As Harry Heegan in Mark Anthony Turnage’s The Silver Tassie at English National Opera, he won the 2000 Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Singers. As Jaufre Rudel, in Kaija Saariaho’s opera L’amour de loin, he received critical acclaim in the Paris, Santa Fe and Helsinki premieres. He created the title role in Tobias Picker's Fantastic Mr. Fox at L.A. Opera. He has also performed and recorded the title role in Vaughan Williams’ Pilgrim’s Progress with the Royal Opera Covent Garden, and in 2001 took the title role in a DVD film version of Britten’s Owen Wingrave. At the Metropolitan Opera New York, he has sung the title role in Don Giovanni, Marcello and Papageno. Appearances at l’Opéra de Paris include Don Giovanni, Count, Figaro, Papageno, Valentin, Sharpless and Olivier in Strauss’ Capriccio. Glyndebourne appearances include Papageno, Figaro, Guglielmo, Nick Shadow and Agamemnon in Iphigénie en Aulide. Recent outstanding successes include his debut at the 2007 Salzburg Festival as the Count in Figaro, Don Giovanni at Vienna’s Theater an der Wien and Prague’s Estates Theatre as part of the 2006 Mozart year, Doctor Atomic at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and the title role of Eugene Onegin at the Royal Opera House. His concert work is equally prestigious, and he has featured in recordings of Haydn, Handel, Brahms and Mozart. In recent seasons, he has premiered new works for Baritone and Large Ensemble written by Mark Anthony Turnage called The Torn Fields and When I Woke, as well as a new piece “Reflections on L’amour de loin” by Saariaho. He is a frequent guest of many orchestras throughout Europe. Recently released are his recordings of Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium, Mozart’s Requiem and Handel's Messiah with Nicklaus Harnoncourt for Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Britten’s War Requiem with the LPO and Kurt Masur for Chandos, and LSO Live’s Beethoven 9th Symphony with Bernard Haitink. His Chandos CD of Stanford’s Songs of the Sea received the Editor’s Choice Award at 2006 Classic FM Gramophone Awards. His concert appearances this season include BBC Symphony in John Fould’s A World Requiem, the Boston Symphony in Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius, the Berlin Philharmonic, the London Philharmonia, and the Hallé Orchestra. As a recitalist, Gerald Finley works regularly with Julius Drake, appearing throughout Europe and North America, and is a frequent guest at the Wigmore Hall. Recent performances have included Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, San Francisco and at New York’s Carnegie-Zankel Hall, and a European tour of Vienna, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Amsterdam and London’s Wigmore Hall, this last recorded by the Wigmore Live label. For the Hyperion label, Mr Finley’s CD of Charles Ives songs A Song – For Anything was critically acclaimed, and he has contributed to their distinguished Schubert song series. On CBC records, his disc Songs of Travel won the 1998 Canadian Juno Award for best Classical Album and he has also released the complete songs of Henri Duparc. For Marquis Classics, he has recorded Schubert songs with the Aldeburgh Connection. His recent releases include Songs of Samuel Barber for Hyperion which was released to critical and popular acclaim, including being nominated for a Canadian Juno Award and a second volume of Ives Songs, Romanzo di Central Park. A disc of Schumann’s Heine settings is expected to be released later this year. A programme of these and songs by Grieg will be presented at the Wigmore Hall, London in June. Gerald Finley began singing as a chorister in Ottawa, Canada, and completed his musical studies in the UK at the Royal College of Music, King’s College, Cambridge, and the National Opera Studio with the support of the Friends of Covent Garden and the Countesss of Munster Musical Trust. He was a winner of Glyndebourne’s John Christie Award and he is a Visiting Professor and Fellow of the Royal College of Music.