 A DUTCHMAN IN PARIS
studied at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam with Maarten Koningsberger, and graduated in the summer of 2003. In June 2005 he graduated from the New Opera Academy Amsterdam. and became subsequently a member of the Netherlands Opera Studio. Eventually he was chosen to enter the famous Atelier Lyrique as part of and closely linked to some of the productions at the Opera house of Paris.
Wiard Witholt is the winner of the Cristina Deutekom Competition 2006. In June 2007 he represented the Netherlands at the BBC Cardiff singer of the World.
From the season 2009/2010 onwards, he leaves Paris to become a full member of the Opera House in Dessau (Anhalt, Germany) to make himself a repertoire. He appears as Heerrufer (Lohengrin), Maximilian (Candide), Papageno (Zauberflöte), Pietro (La Muette de Portici), Silvano (Un ballo in Maschera), Mister X (Die Zirkusprinzessin), Zurga (Les Pêcheurs de Perles) and Belcore (L'Elisir d'Amore).
HIS CAREER IN A NUTSHELL
2008 he made his debut at La Monnaie Brussels as Le Berger (Pelléas et Mélisande), at Teatro Real in Madrid as Frére Léon (St. François d'Assise), at ROyal Opera House of Liège as Il Conte Almaviva (Nozze di Figaro) and at Opéra National du Rhin Strasbourg as Falke (Fledermaus).
He created Schemariah the principal character in Hiob (by Erich Zeisl) at "Festspiele Plus" (2014) at Bavarian State Opera and appeared in "Reimsreisje" (Alvaro) in the revisited version of Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims at the Amsterdam Opera House and in the title role of "Der Kaiser von Atlantis" (Compagnietheater). Noteworthy is his debut in the role of the Marquis d'Hérigny in Manon (by D.F.E. Auber !). A rarely performed opera programmed by the Royale Opera House in Liège
La Monnaie reinvites Wiard Witholt, this time to take part in the world première of Pascal Dusapin's Penthesilea (as Messager/Bote). Other engagements in the House include meanwhile the artist's participation in Tristan und Isolde (Melot) and in Madama Butterfly (Il commisario & L’ufficiale). The meeting with Pascal Dusapin led to Wiard Witholt's engagement by the Sydney Festival 2016 to perform the main male part in his opera Passion... for which he was nominated "Best male performer" by the Helpmann Awards.
His opera repertoire also includes : Guglielmo (Così fan tutte), Dancaire and Morales (Carmen), 2. Gefangener and Don Fernando (Fidelio), Bobinet (La vie Parisienne), Melisso (Alcina), Maestro Biscroma Strapaviscere (Le convenienze e le inconvenienze), Demetrius (A Midsummer Night’s dream), Junius (The Rape of Lucretia), L’Horloge Comptoise and Le chat (L’Enfant et les sortilèges), Lescaut (Manon), Aeneas and Sorceress (Dido and Aeneas) and Gobrias in Harry Kupfer’s staging of Handel’s Belshazzar in Amsterdam.
 BACHTRACK
Grown up with Bach's music, Wiard Witholt combines his operatic obligations with frequent appearances in Bach’s St. Matthew, St. John Passions, Christmas Oratorio, B-minor Mass and several Bach cantatas, including: Ich habe Genug BWV 82 and Ich will den Kreuzstab gerne tragen BWV 56 with the Concertgebouw Chamber Orchestra. He performed Mahler’s "Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen" at the Opéra National de Paris Garnier (2007) and at KLARA-festival with Brussels Philharmonic led by Michel Tabachnik.
Other concert and oratorio repertoire includes: the Requiems by Mozart, Brahms, Duruflé and Fauré, La Petite Messe Solennelle (Rossini), Paulus and Elijah (Mendelssohn), The Messiah and Joshua (Haendel), Solemn Vespers (Mozart), Kindertotenlieder (Mahler), A child of our time (Tippett) and "La naissance de David de Sassoun" by the Armenian composer Garbis Aprikia, which he sang at the Paris Opéra Comique led by Alain Altinoglu (2014).
please contact the agency to get the most recent biographical details of the artist.
FOTO'S : © Jacob Voges - Photography. Amsterdam & Berlin
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