Stuart Skelton

Tenor

Management: Australasia and non-exclusive Asia

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, Aix-en-Provence, July 2021

“Stuart Skelton's Tristan, less baritonal than some, more lyrical than heroic, displayed a Lieder signer's elegance of line that turned into feverish energy in Act 3, tackled with all the necessary stamina.”

Xavier Cester, Opera Magazine, September 2021

Wagner: Tristan und Isolde, West Australian Symphony Orchestra (ABC Classics CD)

“Stuart Skelton’s polished mahogany baritonal hue…[His] Tristan is most remarkable in its range of expression from gentle caress to roaring rage…His detailed word painting with such finely graded colours is captivating and one hangs on his every utterance…A towering performance from a great singing actor.”

Warwick Arnold, Limelight Magazine, November 2019

Shining Knight, West Australian Symphony Orchestra (ABC Classics CD)

“He knows his Wagner inside out and Skelton is as reliable as ever. Possibly there is no better Wagner tenor around at present. He delivers unforced singing, beautiful tone, strength, brilliance and natural phrasing. His enunciation is also exemplary…”

Göran Forsling, MusicWeb International, March 2019

Fidelio, Teatro alla Scala

“Skelton’s powerful, burnished tone shot out of darkness like a thunderbolt in the opening cry of pain. In the remainder of the aria, the Heldentenor communicated steadfast nobility in the face of crushing solitude, before building to an upliftingly sanguine conclusion”.

James Imam, Bachtrack, June 21, 2018

Wagner, Die Walküre, Hong Kong Philharmonic c. Jaap van Zweden (Naxos 4 CD)
“…Stuart Skelton’s magnificent Siegmund is here preserved in excellent sound, the stream of golden tone pouring forth in this, a signature role. His attention to psychological detail and word painting is compelling, culminating in a moving Zauberfest.”

Clive Paget, Limelight, April 2017

Tristan und Isolde, English National Opera
“Stuart Skelton’s Tristan is the finest account of Wagner’s most extreme and taxing operatic character...that I’ve ever seen or heard on a stage.”

David Nice, The Arts Desk, June 2016

“…the evening’s greatest stage performance comes from Heldentenor Stuart Skelton, whose Tristan is tireless and sung with profound conviction”.

George Hall, The Stage, June 16, 2016

Otello, English National Opera
“He vocalised the role superbly: not a crack or a fumble, the tone trumpet-bright and penetrating. Not since Domingo in his prime can this music have been sung with more complete assurance.”

Rupert Christiansen, The Telegraph, September 2014

Peter Grimes, San Francisco Symphony
“Stuart Skelton’s magnetic performance captured Grimes’s blunt, looming physicality and wounded fragility in equal measure. Skelton’s tenor is astonishingly virile — stunning in its power at forte, softly sensitive in “Now the Great Bear and Pleiades” and honeyed in the lyrical passages describing his dream of love for Ellen Orford. His early scenes projected a blunt, defiant misanthrope given to quicksilver flashes of rage, and his final scene — a wrenching descent into madness — was shattering.”

Georgia Rowe, Opera News, July 2014

Peter Grimes, English National Opera
“Skelton, singing with astonishing visceral intensity, is surely now the Grimes de nos jours. Not to be missed on stage.”

Hugh Canning, Sunday Times, February 2014

Stuart Skelton has appeared in most of the world’s most celebrated opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Bavarian State Opera, La Scala Milan, Hamburg State Opera, Berlin State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Dresden Semperoper, the Vienna State Opera and Seattle Opera,. His roles include the title roles in Lohengrin, Tristan (Tristan und Isolde), Rienzi, Parsifal, Dimitrij, Otello and Peter Grimes as well as Florestan in Fidelio, Laca in Jenufa, Erik in Der Fliegende Holländer, The Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos, Max in Der Freischütz, Canio in Pagliacci, Gherman in The Queen of Spades, and Siegmund in Der Ring des Nibelungen.

Stuart’s 2024 engagements will include his debut with the Seoul Philharmonic in Die Walküre, Act 1 (Jaap van Zweden conducting), Tristan for the Tokyo Spring Music Festival and at Glyndebourne Festival, Gurrelieder with Sir Simon Rattle in Munich, a national tour of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Siegmund (Die Walküre) for Sydney Symphony, Simone Young conducting, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Melbourne Symphony, Jaime Martin conducting.

He is in constant demand on concert stages around the world, having appeared with such orchestras as the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, Montreal Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Concertgebouw Orchestra, Gewandhaus Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC Orchestras of Scotland and Wales and the Symphony Orchestras of Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Western Australia and Tasmania. He has also appeared at the Edinburgh and Lucerne Festivals, and in the BBC Proms.

Throughout his career Stuart has been fortunate enough to work with many acclaimed conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Daniel Barenboim, Karina Canellakis, Asher Fisch, Edward Gardner, Phillipe Jordan, Fabio Luisi, David Robertson, Sir Simon Rattle, Donald Runnicles, Simone Young and Jaap van Zweden.

Stuart Skelton’s recent recordings include performances of Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Adam Fischer and the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker; both the Mahler and Siegmund in Die Walküre with Sir Simon Rattle and the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, a role he has also recorded with Asher Fisch in Adelaide and in Seattle, with Simone Young in Hamburg and with Jaap van Zweden in Hong Kong. His recording of Peter Grimes with long-time collaborator and friend, Edward Gardner and the Bergen Philharmonic was released to international acclaim in 2020 and received a Grammy award for best classical recording in 2021. His recording of Korngold’s Abschiedslieder, Fried’s Verklärte Nacht and Lehar’s Fieber with the BBC Symphony, again under Edward Gardner, was released to worldwide praise. Stuart has also recorded his first solo album, Shining Knight and Tristan und Isolde with The West Australian Symphony and Asher Fisch.

In 2021 Stuart was awarded the Icelandic Music Award’s Male Singer of the Year Award.

Stuart Skelton is managed by Graham Pushee: graham@artsmanagement.com.au
February 2024
This biography is for general information purposes only and not for publication.
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