About this Artist
The British tenor Christopher Lemmings studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
Roles include: for Covent Garden include Stingo in Nicholas Maw’s Sophie’s Choice under Sir Simon Rattle, Caliban in Thomas Adès’ The Tempest (also for BBC television and in Strasbourg) and Scaramuccio Ariadne auf Naxos; for Glyndebourne Tour: Tito La Clemenza di Tito, Belmonte Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Lechmere Owen Wingrave, for Glyndebourne Festival: Il Maestro di Ballo Manon Lescaut, and Bartholomew, a role he created, in Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s The Last Supper, premièred at the Staatsoper, Berlin under Daniel Barenboim; Don Ottavio Don Giovanni (Cologne/Verona); Albert Albert Herring ETO; both L’abate di Chazeuil Adriana Lecouvreur and Ferrando Cosi Fan Tutte for Holland Park Opera, Bob Boles Peter Grimes and Der Bucklige Die Frau ohne Schatten for Vlaamse Opera.
With a strong reputation for his work in Twentieth Century and Contemporary music, Christopher has collaborated with composers such as Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Thomas Adès, Oliver Knussen and Nicholas Maw. Roles include Clarence/Tyrell in Robert Carsen's production of Giorgio Batistelli's Richard III (Strasbourg/Genève), Claude/Robinson in Philippe Fenelon's JJR Citoyen de Geneve (Genève), Edmund in Toshio Hosokawa’s King Lear Linbury Theatre, ROH, Beauty in Gerald Barry’s Triumph of Beauty and Deceit with the BCMG/Ades with Almeida in London, Berlin, Paris and Carnegie Hall New York, Sid Thatcher in Paul Frehner’s Sirius on Earth, also with Almeida, Neoptolemus in Edward Rushton’s Birds, Barks, Bones at the Linbury Theatre, Covent Garden, Molqi The Death of Klinghoffer Finnish National Opera, Perelà in Pascal Dusapin’s Perelà L’uomo di Fumo Bastille /Montpelier, Sellem The Rake’s Progress (Opera Nantes/Angers) and Knussen's Where the Wild Things Are/Higglety Pigglety Pop! with the Aldeburgh Festival and with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel. With the Bochum Ruhrtriennale he sang Die Zweiter Junge Offizier in Zimmermann's Die Soldaten in Bochum and in New York's Lincoln Centre Festival, With Music Theatre Wales he created the role of Robin Fingest in Michael Berkeley and Ian McEwan’s opera For You, and sang Dov in Sir Michael Tippett’s Knot Garden in a joint production with the Royal Opera House to mark the centenary of the composer’s birth. In 2011 he created the role of The Prince in Luke Bedford's new opera Seven Angels with the BCMG and The Opera Group.
Opera in concert includes: Gerald Barry’s Triumph of Beauty and Deceit with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and with Radio France, Hotel Porter Death in Venice, Lechmere Owen Wingrave and Molqi The Death of Klinghoffer at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam under Edo de Waart; Itulbo Il Pirata and L’abate/Un incredibile Andrea Chénier with Chelsea Opera Group, Queen Elizabeth Hall. Other concert appearances: Finzi’s Intimations of Immortality Royal Liverpool Philharmonic; Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Northern Sinfonia at the Sage, Gateshead, and Aldeburgh Festival; Rossini’s Stabat Mater RTE Concert Orchestra, National Concert Hall, Dublin; Haydn’s Stabat Mater Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Messiah in London and Madrid with the English Chamber Orchestra, War Requiem with the Konzertchor Darmstadt, Janacek’s Glagolitic Mass with the Brighton Festival and Orff's Carmina Burana at the Royal Festival Hall.
Recent/current season, future plans include The Schoolmaster Cunning Little Vixen (Bergen National Opera), Il Podestà La Finta Giardiniera (Buxton Festival), Spoletta Tosca, Melot Tristan und Isolde and Der Wirt Der Rosenkavalier (Vlaamse Opera), and Rossini Stabat Mater/Puccini Messa di Gloria with the Highgate Choral conducted by Ronald Corp, and Carmina Burana with the Bach Choir at the Royal Festival Hall. Recordings include the critically acclaimed Rorem Auden Songs with Chamber Domaine (Sanctuary Classics), The Sacred Heart of Nino Rota (Zitto), and Michael Berkeley and Ian McEwan's opera For You (Signum).