Gerald Finley

Grammy Award-winning Canadian bass-baritone Gerald Finley is one of the most revered and influential artists of our time, with celebrated performances at the world’s major opera and concert venues and recordings on CD and DVD with major labels in a wide variety of repertoire. His extensive career is devoted to the complete spectrum of vocal art, encompassing operatic, orchestral and song repertoire, collaborating with the greatest composers, orchestras and conductors.

His career initially focussed on the music of Mozart; his Don Giovanni and Count Le nozze di Figaro have been heard live and broadcast throughout the world. His ever expanding repertoire soon encompassed major Wagner and Verdi repertoire as well roles including Bluebeard, Guillaume Tell, J. Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams’ Dr. Atomic, and Jaufré Rudel in Saariaho’s L’amour de loin. He created Harry Heegan in Mark Anthony Turnage’s The Silver Tassie.

Finley’s 2025/26 season begins with a new production of Tosca at the Royal Ballet & Opera for their season opening; his debut at Teatro alla Scala as Don Alfonso Così fan tutte; Golaud Pelléas et Mélisande at Opéra de Monte-Carlo; Amfortas Parsifal at Wiener Staatsoper; Count Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro and the title role in Macbeth at Bayerische Staatsoper. On the concert platform, Finley will perform Handel’s Messiah with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra; Brahms’ Requiem with the London Symphony Orchestra; Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Orchestre de Paris and Klaus Mäkelä; and a concert at Teatro Real with Leo Hussain.

Last season began with a concert performance of Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer at Norwegian National Opera under the baton of Edward Gardner, which was released by Decca Classics; Scarpia Tosca at Staatsoper unter den Linden; and a double appearance as the title role in Verdi’s Macbeth at the Wiener Staatsoper and Bayerische Staatsoper. Further highlights include the New York premiere of Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra at the Metropolitan Opera and the world premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage’s new opera Festen at the Royal Ballet & Opera. On the concert platform, Finley performed Brahms’ Requiem with the Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin; and performed a recital tour with acclaimed pianist Isata Kanneh-Mason.

Other recent engagements saw Finley as Hans Sachs in Laurent Pelly’s new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Madrid; Adams’ Antony and Cleopatra at the Liceu and San Francisco Opera; Amfortas Parsifal, Count Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro and Iago Otello at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Don Alfonso Così fan tutte and Wolfram Tannhäuser at the Royal Ballet & Opera; Scarpia Tosca and Count in Netia Jones’ new production of Le nozze di Figaro at the Opéra national de Paris; Der fliegende Holländer at Staatsoper Berlin; the title role in Bluebeard’s Castle and Count Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro at the Metropolitan Opera; the title role in Falstaff at the Vienna State Opera and in a new production at the Salzburg Festival.

In concert, he performed Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia; Mendelssohn Elijah with the London Symphony Orchestra and Sir Antonio Pappano; Bluebeard Bluebeard’s Castle at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Oslo Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, with Against the Grain Theatre in London and Toronto, l’Orchestre de Paris, Wiener Symphoniker and Gotherburg Symphony Orchestra; Beethoven Symphony No.9 conducted by Bernard Haitink in Munich and at the Salzburg Festival with Riccardo Muti; the opening gala concert at the Paris Opera with Gustavo Dudamel; as well as a recital tour with Julius Drake in London, Strasbourg, Vienna, Madrid, Luxembourg and Valencia.

His other notable successes include Hans Sachs at the Glyndebourne Festival and Opéra de Paris; AmfortasParsifalat the Royal Ballet & Opera, in Baden-Baden with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle ans the Bavarian State Opera; Wolfram at the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Verdi’s Falstaff at the Canadian Opera (for which he won a DORA Award) and the Salzburg Festival; as a “peerless” IagoOtello with Sir Colin Davis and the LSO (LSO Live) Royal Ballet & Opera in Japan, and Bavarian State Opera, and Canadian opera; and in the title role in Rossini’s William Tell with Accademia di Santa Cecilia and Sir Antonio Pappano (EMI) and at the Royal Ballet & Opera Covent Garden. His other important roles include Scarpia, Golaud, Eugene Onegin and Nick Shadow. In contemporary opera, Finley has excelled in creating leading roles, most notably J. Robert Oppenheimer in John Adams’ Doctor Atomic (New York Met, ENO London, San Francisco, Chicago and Amsterdam); Harry Heegan in Turnage’s The Silver Tassie at ENO; Howard K. Stern in Turnage’s Anna Nicole at Covent Garden; Jaufré Rudel in Kaija Saariaho’s L’amour de loin; and Mr Fox in Tobias Picker’s Fantastic Mr Fox at L.A. Opera. In 2012, the DVD release of Doctor Atomic in which Gerald Finley appeared as J. Robert Oppenheimer was awarded the Grammy for ‘Best Opera Recording’.

Finley’s concert work is a vital part of his flourishing career with recent appearances with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic the London Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Mahler Chamber, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. He was the star of the 2018 Last Night of the Proms and a rediscovered version of Shostakovich’s “English Poets” along with that composer’s orchestral cycle, Michelangelo Sonnets, was recorded by Finley and the Helsinki Philharmonic on the Ondine label and received international critical acclaim. Modern day composers have written extensively for him and include Peter Lieberson (Songs of Love and Sorrow with the Boston Symphony and recorded by Ondine with the Helsinki Radio Orchestra), Mark Anthony Turnage (When I woke with the LPO and Vladimir Jurowski), Huw Watkins, Julian Philips, Kaija Saariaho (True Fire with the L.A. Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel), and Einojuhani Rautavaara (Rubáiyát with the Helsinki Philharmonic).

As a celebrated song recitalist, he works regularly with pianist Julius Drake. Their many appearances throughout the world include the Schubertiade, a residency at the Wigmore Hall, New York’s Carnegie-Zankel Hall and lauded appearances at the festivals of Salzburg, Edinburgh, and Tanglewood. He has also performed with Sir Antonio Pappano, Malcolm Martineau, Simon Lepper and Michael McMahon.

Finley’s many solo recital CD releases have been devoted to complete songs of Barber, Britten, Duparc, Ives, Liszt, Ravel and Schumann song cycles Dichterliebe and Liederkreis Op. 24 & 39. With a continuing partnership with Julius Drake on the Hyperion label, all have been critically acclaimed, including an unprecedented three Gramophone Awards in the Solo Vocal category. Their release of Schubert Winterreise won a Canadian Juno Award in 2015 and last season saw the completion of their Hyperion Schubert trilogy with the release of Die schöne Müllerin. Most recently the London Symphony Orchestra released a recording of Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Finley in the title role.

As part of his dedication to preserving and enhancing the singing tradition, he gives masterclasses throughout the world most recently at the Juilliard School of Music, and continues to work with the Jette Parker Young Artists’ Program at the Royal Ballet & Opera, Covent Garden, the National Opera Studio, and the Lindemann Program at the Met.

Finley was born in Montreal, began singing as a chorister in Ottawa, Canada, and completed his musical studies in the UK at the Royal College of Music, King’s College, Cambridge, and the National Opera Studio. He is a Fellow and Visiting Professor at the Royal College of Music. In 2014 he climbed Kilimanjaro for the charity Help Musicians UK. In 2024, Finley was honoured as a Kammersänger of the Bayerische Staatsoper for his outstanding artistic achievements and his long connection to the opera house. He was appointed Commander of
the Order of the British Empire in 2017 and had previously been appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. Finley also features on a Canadian stamp celebrating Canadians in opera.