William Burden

The American tenor has earned an outstanding international reputation in a wide-ranging repertoire, including the leading tenor roles of Faust, Pelléas et Mélisande, The Rake’s Progress, Roméo et Juliette, Acis and Galatea, Billy Budd, Carmen, and Eugene Onegin. Burden has performed with virtually every major American opera company, while also earning high praise abroad at La Scala, the leading houses of Munich, Paris, Berlin, and Madrid, and the Saito Kinen Festival. Appearances in 2015-16 include Loge/Das Rheingold (Washington) and Laca/Jenůfa (San Francisco). Among his most recent portrayals have been the Podestà/La finta giardiniera (Santa Fe) and Edgardo/Lucia di Lammermoor (New Orleans). As celebrated for contemporary opera as for standard repertoire, Burden has triumphed in Berg’s Lulu (Lyric, Amsterdam), Mark Adamo’s The Gospel of Mary Magdalene (San Francisco, world premiere), Henze’s Phaedra (Philadelphia, U.S. premiere), and Kevin Puts’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Silent Night (St. Paul world premiere, reprise in Philadelphia), among many other musically demanding works. His concert engagements include the major orchestras of Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis, Houston, Atlanta, Berlin, and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Burden has recorded Vanessa (BBCSO) and is featured on DVD in Don Giovanni (Glyndebourne) and The Tempest (Met).

Previously at Lyric Opera: Rubén Iglesias/ Bel Canto (2015|16); Flamand/Capriccio (2014|15); Alwa/Lulu (2008-09); Tybalt and Romeo/Romeo and Juliet (1998|99).

Last updated: December 7, 2105
Photo: Simon Pauly