Gary Griffiths

Winner of the Welsh Singers Competition in 2012, Gary Griffiths was a finalist representing Wales in the 2013 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where, in 2009, he won the prestigious Gold Medal Competition.

He was immediately engaged by Welsh National Opera as an Associate Artist, making a critically acclaimed debut in 2011 as Guglielmo (Così fan tutte). His other roles with the company include Cecil (Maria Stuarda), Masetto (Don Giovanni), Claudio (Béatrice et Bénédict), and Schaunard in a new production of La Bohème (for which he was awarded the Welsh Theatre Critics’ Award). He returns to the company this season for Salano (The Merchant of Venice) and Marcello (La Bohème).

Having made a successful role debut as the Count (Figaro) in Wiesbaden, he was invited back in 2016 for Ford (Falstaff) and Sharpless (Madama Butterfly). Other recent operatic appearances include Maximillian (Candide) at the Maggio Musicale in Florence, The Executioner (Ines de Castro) for Scottish Opera, Ned Keene (Peter Grimes) for Grange Park Opera, Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) for New Zealand Festival Opera and Malatesta (Don Pasquale) for the Longborough Festival Opera. Earlier roles have included Germano (La Scala di Seta) for British Youth Opera; Dog/Innkeeper (The Cunning Little Vixen) for Grange Park Opera; and L'Incognito (L'Assedio di Calais), Le Comte (Chérubin), Mr. Gedge (Albert Herring), Arsenio (La Spinabla) and Marquis de la Force (Les Dialogues des Carmelites) at the Guildhall School Opera.

His recent concert appearances include Berlioz Les Troyens with Valery Gergiev and the London Symphony Orchestra, Grieg's Peer Gynt with the Hallé Orchestra conducted by Nikolaj Znaider, Fauré Requiem with John Wilson and the RTE Concert Orchestra, Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius with the Berliner Kantorei, Mozart's Requiem with the orchestra of the Welsh National Opera and Christoph Poppen, a gala performance at the National Eisteddfod of Wales with the Welsh Chamber Orchestra, and Walton's Belshazzar’s Feast at the Barbican with the Guildhall Symphony Orchestra conducted by Martyn Brabbins.

A committed recitalist, he has appeared at the Oxford Lieder Festival with Sholto Kynoch, the Cowbridge Music Festival with Joseph Middleton, King’s Place with Iain Burnside, the Ludlow English Song Weekend with Simon Lepper, Chipping Campden Music, in Harrogate, Dore Abbey and St. David’s Hall, Cardiff.

In recording, he also appears on Catrin Finch’s Lullabies CD for Deutsche Grammophon and on his solo album Début which was released last year.