The baritone Christopher Purves studied English at King’s College Cambridge before performing and recording with the rock and roll group Harvey and the Wallbangers. Among others, he has sung Melisso (Alcina) at Bayerische Staatsoper, Ford (Falstaff) and the title roles in Wozzeck and
Don Giovanni at Welsh National Opera, Cecil (Maria Stuarda) at the Edinburgh International Festival, Sharpless (Anthony Minghella’s Madam Butterfly) and Tonio (Pagliacci) at English National Opera, Marco (Richard Jones’s Gianni Schicchi) for The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Balstrode (Peter Grimes) at Opera North, and the title role in Falstaff at Glyndebourne Festival Opera, in addition to being a soloist in Nono’s Al gran sole carico d’amore at the Salzburg Festival. In concert he has appeared in Handel’s Judas Maccabaeus in Nuremberg and Saul at the Covent Garden and La Chaise Dieu festivals with the Gabrieli Consort, Handel’s Messiah with the Academy of Ancient Music, Handel and Haydn Society, The Sixteen, and Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Aci, Galatea e Polifemo with the Orquesta Nacional d’España, Britten’s War Requiem and Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the Ulster Orchestra, Haydn’s Nelson Mass with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, and Samson at the BBC Proms. For Chandos, Christopher Purves has recorded Don Fernando (Fidelio), Count Ribbing (A Masked Ball), Gottardo (The Thieving Magpie) and the title role in Le Nozze di Figaro, all in the Opera in English series.