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The English baritone, Jonathan Gunthorpe, read English and Russian at Leeds University, gained an MA in music at the Birmingham Conservatoire and furthered his studies at the Royal College of Music. During his time there, he was chosen to sing Christus in J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion (BWV 244), Biagio in Don Giovanni and Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro. He completed his studies at the National Opera Studio ssupported by the Sybil Tutton Trust and Welsh National Opera.
Jonathan Gunthorpe made his Royal Opera début as Angelotti in Tosca, returning as Nachtigall in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Other engagements have included Elephant in Richard Ayres’ The Cricket Recovers and for Aldeburgh Festival / Almeida Opera, Dancaïre in Carmen with WNO and at Lyrique en Mer, Ralph in La Jolie Fille de Perth, Rochefort in Anna Bolena and Vaudemont in Les vêpres siciliennes for Chelsea Opera Group, Arsenio in La Spinalba with the Casa da Musica, Porto, Pilgrim in Curlew River with Opera de Rouen, The English Clerk in Death in Venice for English National Opera, Mr Noye in Noye’s Fludde at the Internationales Kammermusik Festival, Nuremberg, Basilio in L’amore industrioso for Opera Holland Park, Timagene in Poro for Antahkarana, the title role in Stephen McNeff’s The Gentle Giant for ROH2, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Alidoro in La Cenerentola and Taddeo in L’Italiana in Algeri at the Mananan Opera Festival, Papageno in The Magic Flute for English Touring Opera and Belle Ile sur Mer, Sharpless in Madam Butterfly for London City Opera, Albany in Vision of Lear (UK premiere) at the Linbury Studio Theatre and Faber in The Knot Garden at the Montepulciano Festival. He has also created the role of Quain in Thwaite by Jürgen Simpson for Almeida Opera, which was also performed at the The Project, Dublin and Aldeburgh Festival and to great acclaim this summer. He played at the National Theatre in a production of Mother Courage and Her Children. His work in theatre includes also Macbeth and King Lear.
Concert engagements have included J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) at the London Handel Festival, Dancaire in Carmen with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Sakari Oramo, Polyphemus in Acis and Galatea for the Gabrieli Consort under Paul McCreesh, Messiah with the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, the Oxford Philomusica, and The Sixteen, Manoah in Samson for the Konzertchor Darmstadt, W.A. Mozart's Grabmusik with the Classical Opera Company, Mass in C Minor at the Parco di Musica, Rome, and Requiem with the Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields under John Nelson, Dmitri Shostakovich Symphony No. 14 with the City of London Sinfonia, and Second Soldier in Salome with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He has appeared at the BBC Proms with Ex Cathedra and at the Bath, Cheltenham, Lufthansa, Oslo, Perth and Turku Festivals and the English Chamber Orchestra, at venues such as the Barbican Hall, or Westminster Abbey. In recital he works with Julius Drake and Malcolm Martineau. He made his Wigmore Hall debut with the Johannes Brahms Liebeslieder and has also performed with the Aalborg Symphony Orchestra, London Mozart Players and Northern Sinfonia. Further engagements have included, Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas for Ex Cathedra, and J.S. Bach's Magnificat (BWV 243).
Jonathan Gunthorpe has broadcast for BBC Radio 2’s Friday Night is Music Night and his recordings further include "Music for the Sun King" (Motets by Lalande) for Hyperion and Paul Spicer’s Easter Oratorio with the Birmingham Bach Choir. He was featured in The Times "Great British Hopes", after his Royal Opera début as Angelotti in La Tosca and a recital with Malcolm Martineau at St John's, Smith Square.
Current engagements include English Clerk in Death in Venice at La Monnaie, Brussels, the Concertgebouw, the Théâtre de la Ville à Luxembourg, La Scala, Milan, and the New York City Opera, Nanni in L’infedelta delusa and Leporello in Don Giovanni for English Touring Opera, Papageno in The Magic Flute for Opera Holland Park, Reinmar in Tannhäuser at the St Endellion Festival, J.S. Bach's B Minor Mass (BWV 232) or the Israel Camerata Orchestra Jerusalem, Christus in J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion (BWV 244) and Messiah with the Apollo Chamber Orchestra, a recording of J. Brahms Volkslieder with Malcolm Martineau for Crear Classics, Messiah with the Orchestra of St John’s, Neukomm Messe de l'acclamation du Brésil with La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy, Motets by Vinacessi with La Serenissima and a return to Friday Night is Music Night for BBC Radio. |
