Christopher Purves

Christopher Purves makes his Houston Grand Opera debut in Britten's Peter Grimes with the role of Captain Balstrode, a role he has previously sung at Opera North. His operatic engagements include Marco in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi at Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Figaro in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro for Scottish Opera and Opera North; Papageno in Mozart’s The Magic Flute and Faninal in Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier for Welsh National Opera and Opera North; the Forester in Cunning Little Vixen; Siegfried in Schumann’s Genoveva, Dulcamara in Donizetti’s The Elixir of Love, Lescaut  in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut for Opera North; the Count in Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, Germont in Verdi’s La traviata, title roles in Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Berg’s Wozzeck for Welsh National Opera; Sharpless in Puccini’s Madame Butterfly for English National Opera, Alcina at Bavarian State Opera in Munich. He created the role of Executioner in James Macmillan’s Ines de Castro at the Edinburgh International Festival where he has also appeared as Cecil in Donizetti’s Maria Stuarda. His discography includes The Marriage of Figaro (Figaro) on the Chandos label. He has performed as a concert soloist in Mozart’s Mass in C at Aix-en-Provence, Stravinsky’s Les Noces in Brussels, Bach’s B Minor Mass at the Chaise Dieu Festival, Handel’s Judas Maccabeus in Nuremberg and Saul at the Covent Garden and La Chaise Dieu Festivals, John Tavener’s Apocalypse at the Proms with the City of London Sinfonia, the St John Passion in Madrid, Handel’s Messiah and Haydn’s Nelson Mass with Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Handel’s La Resurrezione with Les Musiciens de Louvre,  Les Mamelles de Tirésias with the London Sinfonietta under Sir Simon Rattle,  Britten’s War Requiem and Haydn’s Creation with the Ulster Orchestra, and Lucifer in Handel’s La resurrezione in Rome. He studied English at Kings College Cambridge before performing and recording with the highly innovative vocal rock & roll group Harvey and the Wallbangers.