Biography
- About Derek Welton
The Australian-born bass-baritone Derek Welton has established himself as a respected and versatile artist both on the concert platform and the opera stage, with a repertoire ranging from Bach and Handel to the present day.
Derek’s engagements for the 2023/2024 season will include a return to the Opéra de Lyon in the title role of a staged version of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, his début at the Teatro Real Madrid as Duke of Albany (Lear) and his role début as Wotan in Die Walküre at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, a role which he will also sing in concert with Concerto Köln. Concerts will include Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, excerpts of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Der Ring des Nibelungen with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Stravinsky’s Œdipus Rex with the Munich Philharmonic and Act 3 of Parsifal at the Grafenegg Festival. Derek will return to the Bayreuth Festival in 2024 as Amfortas, and future plans include , and Mahler’s Symphony No 8 with the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and Pizarro in Fidelio at Washington National Opera.
Calendar
Upcoming performances
- 22 23
- March 2024
- Münchner Philharmoniker
Sibelius · Stravinsky
Symphony No 7 in C major Op 105
Jean Sibelius
Œdipus Rex
Igor Stravinsky
Conductor · Santtu-Matias Rouvali
Œdipus · Paul Appleby
Jocasta · Ekaterina Semenchuk
Creon · Derek Welton
Tiresias · Shenyang
Shepherd · Gyula Rab
Messenger · Derek Welton
Narrator · Waltraud Meier
- 9 16 24
- March 2024
- 1
- May 2024
- Concerto Köln | Dresdner Musikfestspiele
Die Walküre
- Richard Wagner
Conductor · Kent Nagano
Wotan · Derek Welton
Siegmund · Maximilian Schmitt, Ric Furman
Sieglinde · Sarah Wegener
Brünnhilde · Åsa Jäger, Christiane Libor
Hunding · Patrick Zielke
Fricka · Claude Eichenberger
Locations
Prague State Opera, Prague, Czechia
Het Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Kölner Philharmonie, Cologne, Germany
Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, Germany
News
Press and updates
Critical acclaim for Derek Welton’s début as Wotan in Die Walküre
Derek Welton’s recent début in the role of Wotan in Wagner’s Die Walküre has been met with critical acclaim. Reviews of the performances include: ‘Frustration, authority, love, ego: there is no side of Wotan that bass-baritone Derek Welton does not portray wonderfully. The marital quarrel between him and Fricka is a theatrical highlight.’ – […]
Rehearsals begin for Die Walküre in Dresden
Following his house début at the Teatro Real Madrid in January, Derek worked for the first time with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Gustavo Gimeno, performing and recording Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, which will be released on the Harmonia Mundi label. Yesterday he began rehearsals in Dresden of Wagner’s Die Walküre with the Dresden Festival Orchestra and Concerto Köln, conducted […]
Reviews of Elijah
Derek Welton’s performances in the title role of Elijah have been critically acclaimed by the press: ‘The splendid hero turns out to be Derek Welton. The Australian baritone dominates the overwhelming title role and infuses it with all the colours of the Lieder singer that he also is.’ – Classique News ‘The baritone Derek […]
Photos of Elijah
Some impressions of Calixto Bieito’s visually spectacular production of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, which opened last night (17 December) at the Opéra de Lyon (photos © Bertrand Stofleth | Opéra de Lyon):
Audio and video
Featured recording
© Charlie Kinross
‘The splendid hero turns out to be Derek Welton. The Australian baritone dominates the overwhelming title role and infuses it with all the colours of the Lieder singer that he also is.’
- Classique News
‘The baritone Derek Welton was the great star in this staged version of Mendelssohn’s oratorio Elijah. His presence, his projection, the intensity of his acting, allowed him to embody an ideal prophet, an angry man, permanently questioning: fulminant in this shadowy oratorio.’
- Classica
‘Derek Welton, a head taller than the rest of the cast, is imposing in the title role. Beyond his stature, his voice of bronze and his energy naturally place him in the footsteps of this “charismatic leader” with inspired phrasing. His timbre has the breadth and darkness of ancient oak, while his concentrated projection has the vitality of youth.’
- Ôlyrix
‘It takes an exceptional artist to portray Elijah. At the Opéra de Lyon, it is the Australian baritone Derek Welton who plays the Prophet brilliantly. Here he confirms a very impressive talent as a singer-actor, portraying a charismatic character: a very tall figure with a powerful voice, a timbre which is simultaneously sonorous and creamy, a superlative technique allowing him to dare flamboyant top notes as well as sustained low notes, nuances and colours, and to be authoritarian and angry in “Rufet lauter” as well as desperate and pleading in “Es ist genug”. He dominates the stage in accordance with his role, always in counterpoint to the rest of the soloists and the choir.’
- cult.news
‘Derek Welton remarkably portrays a varied Elijah, trusting in God but sometimes agitated by doubts (his long monologue “Es ist genug” is a marvel of variety and emotion).’
- Díapason
‘THE voice of the evening is Derek Welton. The Australian bass-baritone gives a heart-rending portrayal of Amfortas. The incredible presence of his timbre, carrying right up to the side of the listener, so to speak, invests a compassion, indeed a participation, that refers directly to Parsifal’s sudden calling. The splendour of his colour and his inexhaustible legato make the King the main character, met with a natural nobility even in his moments of rebellion and despair’.
- Anaclase
‘Derek Welton demonstrates great class as Amfortas: a deathly ill king with a wonderfully healthy voice.’
- BR Klassik
‘The beautiful bass-baritone of Derek Welton (Orest) was a calling card to every Australian opera company and orchestra to invite him home again, and often.’
- Limelight Magazine
‘This prodigiously gifted young singer clearly is on the way to becoming a major international star.’
- MusicOMH
‘Towering performances came from … Derek Welton who, as Wotan, dominated the drama not only vocally but also physically’
- Opera
‘Above all the magnificent Wotan of Derek Welton’
- Die Zeit
‘The best of the bunch was Derek Welton’s Wotan. The Australian bass-baritone sang the young god with fresh vigor and vitality. His gently powerful and darkly lacquered voice tempered nobility with arrogance.’
- Opera News
‘Derek Welton was in insolently gorgeous voice as Wotan, taking the long phrase “In des Morgens Scheine mutig erschimmernd lag sie herrenlos” in one breath, and relishing the high tessitura throughout.’
- Opera
‘The vocal sensation of this performance was Derek Welton as Orest with his powerful, distinctive bass-baritone.’
- News
‘Orest was outstandingly cast with the magnificent bass-baritone voice of Derek Welton’
- Das Opernglas
‘The youthful Derek Welton, whose full bass-baritone flowed effortlessly, is sure to become a prominent Wotan’
- Die Welt
‘Perhaps the greatest revelation was Derek Welton’s dark, resonant singing and powerful physical presence as Klingsor. Clearly this young, British-trained Australian is destined for a big Wagnerian career.’
- Opera
‘Derek Welton showed he is the possessor of a major voice—a bass-baritone of easy power and robust, pleasing timbre’
- Opera
‘Derek Welton’s Christ was particularly outstanding, as was his singing of the two final bass arias in Part Two: time stood still for Komm, süßes Kreuz.’
- Seen & Heard International
‘The undoubted high points were Derek Welton’s glorious baritone, culminating in a powerful yet seemingly effortless “The trumpet shall sound”…’
- BachTrack
‘When Welton thundered ‘I will shake the heavens and the earth’, he did pretty much that: every aria he sang had an easy, unforced majesty.’
- The Independent
‘One of those performers you can’t take your eyes off when he is onstage.’
- Spectator
‘A true Handelian bass, a singer with everything needed for this music’
- Classical Source