Biography

Born in Cilfynydd, Wales, his first major international engagement was at the Athens Festival in Stravinsky's "Oedipus Rex", at the behest of the composer himself. In the twenty-nine years since his debut at the Royal Opera House in 1967, Stuart Burrows has established himself as one of the World's Greatest Lyric Tenors.

His performances at all the major Opera Houses have been widely and enthusiastically acclaimed. The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, L'Elisir D'Amore, Manon Lescaut, Eugene Onegin and Manon at the San Francisco Opera; Faust, Madam Butterfly, The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni at the Vienna State Opera; Don Giovanni and Die Entfuhrung at the Paris Opera; Tales of Hoffman and Idomeneo at the Theatre Cologne, Buenos Aires.

His roles at the Royal Opera House include all the above, as well as Cosi fan Tutte, Don Pasquale and La Sonambula. As a guest with the Royal Opera he has toured the Far East and Japan and was also invited to sing Tamino in their visit to the Olympic Festival in Los Angeles in 1984.

Stuart Burrows has appeared in major roles at the Metropolitan Opera, New York on twelve consecutive seasons- a record for any British Singer. He also has the distinction of being invited by the Metropolitan Opera on four occasions to join them in tour of the U.S.A.

He made his debut with La Scala Milan in 1978 singing the title role in Berlioz, La Damnation de Faust. Since 1981, Stuart Burrows has forged new links with the Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels and has since then, performed their new productions of Don Giovanni, Tales of Hoffman and La Clemenza di Tito.

At New Yorks' Carnegie Hall, he has appeared in concert and recital with Solti, Barenboim, Mehta, Ozawa, Bernstein and Ormandy. Of special significance are his recital performances in the Brahmsaal in Vienna- considered to be the foremost venue for recital in Europe.

Stuart Burrows has recorded for television in many parts of the world including Canada, Ireland, Finland, Belgium, Australia and France, in which he sang the Berlioz Requiem at Notre Dame Cathedral with Leonard Bernstein conducting. A television series of six programmes was transmitted on BBC 2, and received immediate and overwhelming acclaim from the general public; and so was born "Stuart Burrows Sings". It became an annual musical programme for eight years, reaching up to eighteen million viewers per week throughout Great Britain.

He has recorded two series for S4C entitled "Gwlad y Gan" and once again, the response from the public was outstanding.

In 1989 he was awarded an Hon. Fellowship from Trinity College Carmarthen (where he studied to be a school teacher, before he became a professional singer) and in 1992 from the University of Wales Aberystwyth. In 1981 he was awarded an Hon. Doctorate from the University of Wales, Cardiff.

In recent years he has been in great demand as an adjudicator at some of the Worlds leading International Vocal competitions including the renowned Sommerakademie Mozarteum in Salzburg and in June of this year the prestigious Queen Elizabeth International Music Competition of Belgium.

He has been invited to adjudicate at the 1997 Cardiff Singer of the World.