Sean Panikkar

The American tenor of Sri Lankan heritage made his Metropolitan Opera debut in Manon Lescaut and his European operatic debut in Peter Sellars's production of Mozart's Zaïde at the Aix-en-Provence Festival (both released on DVD).

Panikkar recently triumphed at the Salzburg Festival, debuting there as Dionysus/Henze's The Bassarids (new production), which also introduced him to Madrid audiences with the Spanish National Orchestra. Recent highlights also include Panikkar's LA Opera debut as Gandhi in Glass's Satyagraha (new production) and a return to Aix-en-Provence in Kurt Weill's Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny.

Among the numerous roles he has created in contemporary opera are Adam/Giorgio Battistelli's CO2 (La Scala debut) and the title role/Jack Perla's Shalimar the Clown (Opera Theatre of Saint Louis). In additional to Twilight: Gods (Michigan Opera Theater), he has recently starred in La bohème (Pittsburgh Opera), Carmen (North Carolina Opera), and The Pearl Fishers (Lyric Opera of Kansas City). Further credits include major roles at Washington National Opera, The Santa Fe Opera, the Royal Albert Hall, and Japan's Saito Kinen Festival.

Lyric debut: Siegfried/Twilight: Gods (2020/21)