Bryn Terfel

Bryn Terfel, a Welsh baritone-bass born in Pwllheli on 9 November 1965, belongs to the generation of British singers who achieved international prominence at the end of the twentieth century. His early training took place in north Wales, in an environment where singing in chapel and in other settings was part of everyday life.

He then studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London with Rudolf Piernay. His voice, remarkably mature for his age, earned him the school's gold medal in 1989, the same year he also won the Lieder prize at the Cardiff Singer of the World competition, which opened the doors to leading conductors and impresarios. A year earlier, he had already received the Kathleen Ferrier Memorial Prize.

His operatic debut came in 1990 with the Welsh opera company, singing Guglielmo and later Mozart's Figaro. From 1991 his international career became firmly established, with the role of the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels and Figaro in England and at Santa Fe, his first appearance in the United States. The following year he sang at Salzburg, both at the Easter Festival and at the main festival, and made his Covent Garden debut as Masetto. In the years that followed he was acclaimed as Figaro in Paris, Vienna, Lisbon and at the Metropolitan Opera, and at La Scala in 1997.

Terfel's repertoire also included roles such as Donner, Wolfram and Balstrode. As a recitalist he distinguished himself especially in the lied, thanks to his linguistic sensitivity, as he is fluent in both Welsh and English. His early choices centred on Mozart rather than Verdi or Wagner, although his dark timbre suggested another path, and he cancelled performances when he judged the demands of a role to be excessive, as with Berg's Wozzeck planned for Salzburg in 1997.

His legacy lies in the combination of rigorous preparation and spontaneous expression, reflected in recordings such as Jokanaan, Figaro, Don Giovanni, Elijah, and the songs of Schubert and Schumann.