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The American tenor, Thomas John Randle, began early studies in conducting and composition but a scholarship to study voice soon meant a change in career direction.
Thomas Randle made his début with the English National Opera as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte and has repeated the role with great success at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Hamburg, New Zealand and the Covent Garden Festival. Well known for his vivid and committed stage portrayals and a unique ability to embrace a wide variety of repertoire, Randle has emerged as one of the most exciting and versatile artists of his generation.
Engagements have included Tom Rakewell for the Théâtre des Champs-Elysees, Netherlands Opera, Lausanne and Bordeaux, Benedict for WNO’s Beatrice and Benedict, Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte for Geneva and Brussels Operas, Don Ottavio in Munich and Los Angeles, Pelleas in Paris and London, Idomeneo for Scottish Opera and La Monnaie Brussels, Achilles in Tippett's King Priam, for ENO and the Reisopera, The Fairy Queen in Aix-en-Provence, Gerald in Delibes' Lakmé in Australia, Joe in Carmen Jones in Washington, La Traviata at Opera North, the title role in Johann Adolf Hasse’s Solimano at the Innsbruck Festival and Staatsoper Berlin, Rheingold and Orfeo at ENO and for the Handel and Haydn Festival in Boston, Katya Kabanova and Khovanshchina at WNO, Death of Klinghoffer in Rotterdam, Tamerlano at Scottish Opera, Peter Grimes in Antwerp, Henze’s Bassarides and Messiaen's St François d’Asisse in Amsterdam and Wozzeck at La Monnaie.
More recently, Thomas Randle appeared in Jenufa for Opera New Zealand (Laca) and ENO (Steva), The Beggar's Opera the the ROH's Linbury Theatre, the title role in Orlando Paladino with René Jacobs at the Staatsoper Berlin and the Innsbruck Festival, Idomeneo and Gustav Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde in Brussels and Paris, Katya Kabanova and Fidelio (Florestan) for Opera Holland Park, Die Soldaten (Desportes) at De Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, the title role in The Return of Ulisees for ENO, St Francois d'Assise (Frere Massee) at the Teatro Real Madrid and the world premiere of Waiting for Miss Monroe (Joe di Maggio) at DNO Amsterdam.
Thomas Randle made his Royal Opera House début as Essex in Phyllida Lloyd’s highly acclaimed production of Gloriana, which was later released as a feature film for BBC Television. Other appearances for the Royal Opera include Johnny Inkslinger in Paul Bunyan and the Fool in Gawain.
Thomas Randle is very active in the field of contemporary music with several world premières to his credit, many of which were written especially for him. This includes the role of Dionysus in John Buller's opera The Bacchae for ENO, the world première of Peter Schat's opera Symposium for the Netherlands Opera, and the world première of John Taverner's oratorio The Apocalypse for the BBC Proms. He also created the role of Nunez in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s opera The Country of the Blind, written for the 50th Anniversary of the Aldeburgh Festival, and premiered and recorded Penderecki’s oratorio Credo for the Oregon Bach Festival. His intense portrayal of Judas in the world première of Harrison Birtwistle’s Last Supper under Daniel Barenboim at the Staatsoper Berlin (as well as Glyndebourne) won him outstanding critical acclaim.
Thomas Randle devotes equal time to an active concert career, singing with many of the world's leading orchestras including the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestras, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, The English Concert with conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Michael Tilson Thomas, Sir Colin Davis, Myung-Whun Chung, Yan Pascal Tortelier, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Richard Hickox, Harry Christophers, Trevor Pinnock, and Iván Fischer.
Amongst his recordings are the title role in George Frideric Handel’s Samson with Harry Christophers on Collins Classics, Ralph Vaughan Williams’ A Cotswold Romance with the London Symphony Orchestra and Richard Hickox for Chandos (both premiere recordings) and orchestral works by Luigi Nono on the EMI label. Thomas Randle also appeared as Molqui in the groundbreaking film version of John Adams’ Death of Klinghoffer for Channel 4, released on DVD, and as Monostatos in Kenneth Branagh's Die Zauberflöte.
Forthcoming engagements during the 2012-2013 season include an appearance at the BBC Proms in The Yeomen of the Guard, Lulu (Maler/Negro) in Brussels’ La Monnaie and Jenufa (Steva) in Lille and the role of Aegisth in Elektra in Aix-en-Provence. |
