American bass-baritone Alan Held’s many engagements this season include Jockanaan in Salome at The Vienna State Opera and Opera San Antonio, the title role in “Der Fliegende Holländer” with the Washington National Opera, Pizarro in Fidelio in Madrid and San Francisco, and Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde with The Bavarian State Opera.  The coming season will see him return to the Canadian Opera Company to sing Der Wanderer in “Siegfried” and all three Wotans in The Washington National Opera production of Der Ring des Nibelungen. He will also be heard as Orest in Elektra in Montreal under the baton of Yannick Nezet-Seguin.

Recognized internationally as one of the leading singing actors today, he has appeared at the world’s finest opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Royal Opera House-Covent Garden, Paris Opera, Teatro alla Scala, and the Vienna State Opera. His many roles include the title roles in Wozzeck, Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, The Four Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffmann and Scarpia in Tosca.  He was recently named the Ann and Dennis Ross Faculty of Distinction at his alma mater, Wichita State University where he serves as an Associate Professor of Voice. 

Mr. Held has performed with many of the world’s finest orchestras including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, National Symphony Orchestra, Met Opera Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, and the Kirov Opera Orchestra.

Mr. Held’s performance in the title role of the Paris Opera production of Cardillac is available on DVD as are performances in the productions of Das Rheingold  and  Hansel and Gretel  with the Metropolitan Opera.   He appears as Don Pizzaro with Sir Simon Rattle in the Berlin Philharmonic’s recording of Fidelio (EMI Classics).

Juli 2020 – For the most recent biography please contact Florian Schadhauser