Norwegian bass Jens-Erik Aasbø graduated from the Oslo Opera Academy in 2011 and has since been a member of the soloist ensemble of the Norwegian Opera & Ballet, where he can be heard in the current season as Father Trulove in The Rake’s Progress by Igor Stravinsky, as Dottore Grenvil (La traviata) and Cesare Angelotti (Tosca).

In Oslo, he has been able to win acclaim in recent seasons with roles such as Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Gremin (Eugene Onegin), Il Commendatore and Masetto (Don Giovanni), Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Chief of Police (Lady Macbeth of Mzensk), Friar Tuck (Schwemmer/Robin Hood), 1. Nazarene (Salome), Zuniga (Carmen), Rocco (Fidelio), Raimondo Bidebent (Lucia di Lammermoor), Bonze (Madama Butterfly), Padre Guardiano (La forza del destino), Lieutenant Ratcliffe (Billy Budd), Police Commissioner (Der Rosenkavalier), Mester Laurentius (Bræin/Anne Pedersdotter), Bartolo (Le nozze di Figaro), Sparafucile (Rigoletto) and Hunding (Die Walküre).

Jens-Erik Aasbø is also an internationally sought-after singer, making his house debut as Bartolo (Le nozze di Figaro) at the Zurich Opera and his house and role debut as Veit Pogner in the new production of Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen in the 2024/25 season. He will also make his debut as King Marke in a concert version of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde with the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra under Petr Popelka.

His recent engagements include Daland (Der fliegende Holländer) at the Spring Festival in Tokyo and previously at the Opera på Skäret in Sweden, Der Wassermann (Rusalka) at the Komische Oper Berlin as well as Fasolt (Das Rheingold) and Il Commendatore at the Theatro Municipal de São Paulo.

Jens-Erik Aasbø made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival in summer 2022 as Fasolt (Das Rheingold), Reinmar von Zweter (Tannhäuser) and the 4th Nobleman (Lohengrin). In the summer of 2023, he returned to Bayreuth as Fasolt and Reinmar von Zweter, but was also seen in the new production of Parsifal as the 2nd Knight of the Grail. He also sang these three roles again at the 2024 Bayreuth Festival.