Born in Glasgow, Thomas Walker studied brass at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and singing with Ryland Davies at the Royal College of Music. Over the last two decades he has performed a vast range of repertoire from JS, JC and CPE Bach, through Handel, Gluck and Mozart, to Beethoven, Janáček, Honegger and Britten.

The past season and future highlights show this range of repertoire; in opera with Arnalta in L’incoronazione di Poppea at the Berlin Staatsoper Unter den Linden and Oberon in Purcell The Fairy Queen at Drottningholms Slottsteater; touring with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and Daniel Reuss singing Evangelist in both Bach St John and St Matthew Passions as well as Kammerorchester Basel and René Jacobs singing Messiah; and concerts in Europe with repertoire ranging from Mozart Requiem and Rossini Petite messe solenelle to Britten Serenade for tenor, horn and strings and Beethoven Symphony No. 9. Further ahead he will work again with René Jacobs in the role of Bajazet in Handel’s Tamerlano in both concerts and staged productions.

Previous highlights include performances of Monteverdi L’incoronazione di Poppea with Budapest Festival Orchestra and Iván Fischer in Budapest, Geneva and Vicenza and multiple appearances with the Orchestre National de Belgique, most recently for Beethoven Missa Solemnis at the Bozar with Hugh Wolff and Mozart Mass in C minor with Riccardo Minasi; Tristan in Frank Martin Le vin herbé with Cappella Amsterdam; JS Bach at Wigmore Hall with Gabrieli Consort and Paul McCreesh and CPE Bach Magnificat with Les Violons du Roy and Jonathan Cohen.

Past opera appearances include his debut at both Opéra national de Paris and the Staatsoper Berlin as Adam in Scarlatti Il Primo Omicidio; Admeto in Gluck Alceste at the Ruhr Triennale and Rinaldo in Haydn Armida on tour with the Basel Chamber Orchestra, both with René Jacobs; the title role in Rameau Zoroastre at the Komische Oper Berlin; Purcell The Fairy Queen and title role in Rameau Platée for Staatsoper Stuttgart, and Sospiro in Gassmann L’opera seria at La Monnaie, Brussels. He has also sung Pélleas; Alessandro Il Re Pastore; Quint The Turn of the Screw; Lysander A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Lechmere Owen Wingrave for companies including the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; English National Opera; Scottish Opera and Innsbruck Early Music Festival.

Thomas has recorded a wide variety of repertoire including Janáček choral works and Beethoven Missa Solemnis with Cappella Amsterdam conducted by Daniel Reuss; Bach Magnificats with Arcangelo and Jonathan Cohen; and Honegger Le Roi David with Ensemble Vocal de Lausanne and Daniel Reuss.

Photo credit: Robert Workman