Biography
A frequent soloist at many of Europe’s major opera houses including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opera de Paris, Teatro dell’Opera in Rome and English National Opera, Colin Judson has established himself as one of the most sought-after character tenors of his generation.
Current and future engagements include a return to Royal Opera House as Spoletta Tosca and Goro Madama Butterfly, Monostatos Die Zauberflöte and Snout A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Opera North, a return to Glyndebourne Festival, and Steuermann in Der Fliegende Höllander for Opera Holland Park.
Other recent appearances include Monostatos Die Zauberflöte at Royal Opera House, Old Prisoner From the House of the Dead at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Funeral Director A Quiet Place for Opéra National de Paris, Don Basilio and Don Curzio Le nozze di Figaro with Glyndebourne Festival, Mime in Wagner’s Siegfried for the Grimeborn Opera Festival.
Other appearances have included the mutiple roles of Youth, Hotel Porter and Guest Death in Venice, Pang Turandot, Snout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Kunz Vogelgesang Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Night Porter Death in Venice at the Royal Opera House, Vogelgesang Die Meistersinger, Gamekeeper Rusalka, Bardolfo Falstaff, Squeak Billy Budd and the Schoolmaster Cunning Little Vixen with the Glyndebourne Festival, Spoletta Tosca, Don Basilio Le nozze di Figaro and High Priest of Amon Akhnaten for English National Opera, Flute A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Opera North, Mime Siegfried for Longborough Opera Festival, Opéra National du Rhin, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos, Lisbon, Laca Jenůfa for Pacific Opera Victoria, Dr Caius Falstaff for Garsington Opera, Bob Boles Peter Grimes for Bergen National Opera and Pedrillo Die Entführung aus dem Serail for Cologne Opera. He’s worked with Teatro Real Madrid, Der Nationale Opera Amsterdam, Opera de Lyon, Scottish Opera, Edinburgh Festival, Finnish National Opera and Oper Köln. Judson works extensively in contemporary opera, credits including creating the role of Andrew in Harrison Birtwistle’s The Last Supper and performing in Richard Thomas’s ‘Kombat Opera’ series for the BBC.
His acclaimed portrayal of the role of Sellem The Rake’s Progress has taken him from Caen, Reims, Limoges, Luxembourg Opéra de Rouen Normandie, Scottish Opera to Turin’s Teatro Regio. He performed the role of Kuzka Khovanshchina with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Monostatos Die Zauberflöte and Goro Madama Butterfly both with Opéra de Toulon.
Colin Judson studied at the Guildhall School of Music and made his first professional appearances with British Youth Opera and English Touring Opera.
