Biography
Ed Lyon studied at St John’s College Cambridge, the Royal Academy and the National Opera Studio. He enjoys an international career in a wide repertoire ranging from the baroque to contemporary music and has appeared in many of the world’s leading opera and concert venues including the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, the Netherlands Opera, the Teatro Real Madrid, the Aix, Edinburgh, Holland and Aldeburgh Festivals, Théâtre du Châtelet Paris, BAM New York, the Theater an der Wien and the BBC Proms, with conductors including Antonio Pappano, William Christie, Valery Gerghiev, René Jacobs, Ivor Bolton, Emmanuelle Haïm, Teodor Currentzis and Christian Curnyn.
Recent and future operatic projects include the central role of Colin/ Denisov’s L’écume des jours for Stuttgart Opera, Lurcanio/Ariodante and Septimius / Theodora as well as roles in Ariadne auf Naxos, Tristan und Isolde, Der fliegende Holländer, and Tannhäuser for Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Steva/Jenufa for Opera North, the world premiere of Nicolas Lens’ Shell Shock, Tamino, Spoleta / Tosca and Don Gomez / Henry VIII for La Monnaie, Brussels, L’Ormindo for the ROH at the Globe, Don Ottavio/Don Giovanni and Lurcanio for Scottish Opera, the title role in La Clemenza di Tito for Opera de Rouen, Freddy/My Fair Lady for the Châtelet in Paris, Jaquino/Fidelio and Pane / La Calisto in Madrid, Lurcanio for the Israeli Opera, Don Alonze/L’amant Jaloux and Septimius for Pinchgut Opera in Sydney, Eduardo in Ades’ Exterminating Angel at the Salzburg Festival and the Royal Opera House, Peter Quint / The Turn of the Screw and the title role in Orfeo for Garsington Opera, Jupiter/Semele in Karlsruhe, Belmonte / Die Entführung aus dem Serail for The Grange Festival, King Arthur with Capella Mediterrenea at the Grand Théätre de Génève, Ferdinand / Miranda for Oper Köln, the title role in Candide for Welsh National Opera, a concert performance of Dido and Acteon with Early Opera Company, acclaimed staged performances of Janacek’s The Diary of One who Disappeared in Brussels, London, Brno, Rome and at the Beijing Festival as well as staged choreographed performances of Tancredi and Clorinda with Shobanah Jeyasingh Dance Company.
Other highlights have included extensive tours with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie including Paris, London, Amsterdam and New York in repertoire including the title roles in Lully’s Atys, Rameau’s Pygmalion and Hippolyte and Charpentier’s Actéon, the title role in Monteverdi’s Orfeo at the Aix Festival with René Jacobs, the title role in Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie and Purcell’s Fairy Queen for Glyndebourne and Pane/La Calisto and Lysander/A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Royal Opera, and Haydn’s L’anima de filisofo with Currentzis.
Ed Lyon’s concert repertoire includes the baroque and nineteenth century oratorios as well as major tenor concert works such as The Dream of Gerontius, Elijah and the Britten tenor repertoire. His many concert engagements have included performances at the BBC Proms (including Bach with The English Concert and Maxwell-Davies with the BBC Singers), City of Birmingham SO (Tom Rakewell in a concert performance of The Rake’s Progress), appearances with the London Symphony Orchestra, Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, New London Concert, Musikkollegium Winterthur, The King’s Consort, Easter at King’s, Ludus Baroque, Die Kölner Akademie, Israel Camerata and the English Chamber Orchestra. Recent and forthcoming highlights include performances of Messiah, St John Passion (arias), Elijah, B minor mass at the Royal Festival Hall, Seven Deadly Sins by Sir James Macmillan, performances of the War Requiem with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic and NDR Hannover as well as with the Cambridge University Music Society, a concert performance of Solomon with the Early Opera Company on stage at Covent Garden, St Matthew Passion (Evangelist) for the Bach Choir at the Royal Festival Hall, the world premiere of The Masque of the Red Death with the SWR Sinfonieorchester, The Dream of Gerontius with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, St John Passion (Evangelist) with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, performances of Beethoven Symphony No 9 in Europe and the US with the Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra / Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Elgar’s The Apostles with the Hallé Orchestra under Sir Mark Elder and a recital with the Theatre of the Ayre at the Wigmore Hall.
Recordings include Handel’s Alexander’s Feast and Ode for St Cecilia’s Day, The Triumph of Time and Truth with Ludus Baroque, Les Troyens (DVD) with the ROH Covent Garden and Antonio Pappano, L’enfance du Christ with the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg / Ivor Bolton. In October 2019 he released his first solo album, The 17th Century Playlist on Delphian records and the recent recording of Malcolm Arnold’s The Dancing Master with the BBC Concert Orchestra on Resonus Classics has received wide critical acclaim.
