Opera Scotland

Leigh Melrose Suggest updates

Scottish bass-baritone.

Leigh Melrose studied at St John's College, Cambridge, then in London at the Royal Academy of Music.

He has worked at ENO over many seasons, his parts including Mozart (Count Almaviva, Papageno); Bizet (Escamillo); Leoncavallo (Rodolfo in La bohème); Puccini (Sonora); Berg (Wozzeck) and Britten (Junius, Ned Keene). Roles in modern works include Tadeusz (The Passenger) and Bormental (A Dog's Heart). Other British operatic appearances include Ned Keene (BBC Proms); Escamillo (CBSO) and Noah in Noyes Fludde in Glasgow, with the BBCSSO. With WNO he created Evan in The Sacrifice (MacMillan).

Operatic work abroad includes Salzburg Landestheater (Wozzeck, Sid in Albert Herring); Brussels La Monnaie (Demetrius); Vlaamse Opera (Ned Keene); Paris Opéra Comique (Sid); Rouen (Sid); Barcelona Liceu (Death in Venice); Oviedo (Ned Keene); Seattle (Papageno); and New York City Opera (Rossini's Figaro). In Vienna (Theater an der Wien) he created Cholawicki in Kalitzke's Besessenen, and also appeared in the premiere of Solaris at Paris Champs-Elysées, Lille and Lausanne.

Recordings include Rambo in The Death of Klinghoffer for Cannel 4 Film.

His concert repertoire is wide-ranging, including many modern works and premieres at the BBC Proms and Aldeburgh as well as with many major European orchestras.