Matthew Rose

Introduction

Matthew Rose is one of the most exciting singers of his generation. He studied at the Curtis Institute of Music before becoming a member of the Young Artist Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

His recent operatic engagements have included Bottom (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) at La Scala, Milan; the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; the Glyndebourne Festival; Houston Grand Opera and at the Opéra National de Lyon. At Covent Garden his roles have also included Polyphemus (Acis and Galatea), Colline (La bohème) and Masetto (Don Giovanni) and he has sung Collatinus (The Rape of Lucretia) at the Teatro Réal in Madrid; Mozart’s Figaro in Lille and for the Welsh National Opera; Leporello (Don Giovanni) in Santa Fe and both Speaker (The Magic Flute) and Colline for the English National Opera.

His future engagements include returns to Covent Garden as Haraschta (The Cunning Little Vixen), to the Glyndebourne Festival as Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress) and his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

A regular guest with all the British orchestras, his many concert engagements include the London Symphony Orchestra with Davis, Harding and Tilson Thomas; the Dresden Staatskapelle with Mackerras; the CBSO with Oramo; Le Concert d’Astrée with Haïm and the Zurich Tonhalle Orchestra with Dutoit. His appearances at the Edinburgh Festival have included ‘Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’ with the BBC SSO and Robertson, ‘The Creation’ with the SCO and Norrington, ‘Die Freischutz’ with the SCO and Mackerras, ‘Oedipus Rex’ with the BBCSSO and Malki and ‘Elektra’ with the BBC SSO and Gardner. At the Mostly Mozart Festival in New York he has sung in ‘La clemenza di Tito’ with Gardner and in ‘Pulcinella’ with Nézet-Séguin and at the BBC Proms he has sung ‘Messiah’ the Northern Sinfonia and McGegan.

This season’s engagements include Beethoven’s Symphony no. 9 with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Dudamel and Haydn’s 'The Creation' and 'The Seasons' with the Monteverdi Choir and Gardiner in Carnegie Hall and in Vienna’s Musikerverin.

In recital he has appeared at the Edinburgh, Chester and Cheltenham International Festivals and at St John’s, Smith Square, in London.

He is the recipient of the 2006 John Christie Award and of the Independent Opera / Wigmore Hall Fellowship.

Press Reviews

OPERA REVIEWS

Santa Fe – ‘Don Giovanni’ – July / August 2009

"Matthew Rose makes a stimulating SFO debut as Leporello, full-voiced, assured, with a keen sense of the comic. He’s a major talent and, if his warm, rich bass reaches a bit higher, he might make a fine Giovanni, à la Cesare Siepi."
John Stege, Santa Fe Reporter, 22 July 2009

"Matthew Rose's resonant, handsome bass and good comic timing made Leporello come alive down to the smallest comma and comment, and his interactions with Giovanni were priceless. Every time Leporello gave Giovanni one more chance, you knew he was gambling with his own life; but he was as seduced by his master's confident aura and honeyed tongue as the women were. Not to mention a full purse."
Craig Smith, The New Mexican, 19 July 2009

Teatro alla Scala, Milan – ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ – June 2009

"Matthew Rose’s performance is overwhelmingly outstanding."
Il Giornale, 10 June 2009

"The opera stared Matthew Rose, a great performance in every way. His singing was impeccable throughout, even when wearing his asses head."
Stefano Jacini, Il Giornale della Musica, 08 June 2009

Royal Opera House, Covent Garden – ‘Acis and Galatea’ – March / April 2009

"Matthew Rose sang the role of Polyphemus with wonderful comic energy and stage charisma."
Ditlev Rindom, Mundo Classico, 15 April 2009

"The real revelation, however, is Matthew Rose in the role of the vengeful giant Polyphemus. His richness of tone, clarity and control really showcase what must be some of Handel’s finest writing for the bass voice."
John-Pierre Joyce, Seen and Heard Opera review, 11 April 2009

"Matthew Rose is a menacing comic-grotesque Polyphemus."
George Hall, The Stage, 01 April 2009

"Matthew Rose's monster Polyphemus sings with elegant force."
Erica Jeal, The Guardian, 02 April 2009

"...it's the men who own the stage here, particularly the imposing figure of Matthew Rose as Polyphemus. In a stylised production, he added a layer of humanity that was lacking elsewhere and sang with power and immense expression. A former Young Artist, Rose is one of the Royal Opera's great success stories."
Donimic McHugh, Musical Criticism, 01 April 2009

CONCERT REVIEWS
Usher Hall – Berlioz: ‘L’Enfance du Christ’ – SCO / Ticciati – 4 February 2010

"The soloists were outstanding… [including] Matthew Rose, the bass singer as Herod and the Ishmaelite Father whose voice has a beautiful, rich tone."
Barbara Bryan, Edinburgh Guide, 05 February 2010

"Matthew Rose’s Herod / Ishmaelite Father demonstrated how fast this young bass is maturing"
Andrew Clark, Financial Times, 8 February

"Matthew Rose’s Herod had a terrifying humanity, his lament of the woes of power laved with vulnerability and suggestive of mania induced by sleepless nights."
Sarah Unwin Jones, The Times, 9 February 2010

"By far the most memorable performance of the evening, however, was the fantastic Matthew Rose. His Herod was no ranting tyrant but a figure of humanity and even sympathy. Rose’s honeyed bass caressed beautifully the phrases of his first great aria, evoking a feeling of profound vulnerability which did not entirely vanish, even during the scene when he ordered the massacre of the innocents. His Ishmaelite Father was warm and appealing, instantly dispelling the gloom of the preceding scene when Mary and Joseph are turned away from every house they try. Rose is one of the most successful graduates of the Royal Opera House’s Young Artists scheme and it is remarkable just how far he has come in the early years of his career."
Simon Thompson, Seen and Heard, February 2010

Carnegie Hall – Haydn: 'Die Jahreszeiten' – Monteverdi Choir/Gardiner – 15 October 2009

"…as Simon, the bass Matthew Rose was stentorian and imposing when appropriate, but also elegant and noble."
Anthony Tommasini, New York Times, 16 October 2009

"that strong fearless bass Matthew Rose"
Harry Rolnick, ConcertoNet, October 2009

Hollywood Bowl – Beethoven: Symphony no. 9 – L. A. Philharmonic/Dudamel – 03 October 2009

"…four terrific vocal soloists (Measha Brueggergosman, Michelle DeYoung, Toby Spence and Matthew Rose) reached possible record levels of exhilaration."
Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times, 03 October 2009

BBC Proms – ‘Messiah’ – Northern Sinfonia / McGegan – 06 September 2009

"Matthew’s Rose’s perfectly projected bass…"
Michael Church, The Independent, 08 September 2009

"Matthew Rose, bass, wins the enunciation prize"
Geoff Brown, The Times, 08 September 2009

"Matthew Rose had a wonderfully commanding voice and sang a really excellent rendition of The Trumpet Shall Sound"
Ed Breen, Musical Criticism, 08 September 2009

"Matthew Rose’s thundering bass…"
Guy Danmann, The Guardian, 07 September 2009

"Matthew Rose has gone from strength to strength over the past two years, and his confident articulation, sonorous tone, and vidi projection were heard to great advantage in ‘Why do the nations’ and ‘The trumpet shall sound’."
Melanie Eskanazie, Classical Source, 06 September 2009

Lincoln Centre, New York – ‘La clemenza di Tito’ – OAE / Gardner – August 2008

"Matthew Rose was strong as Publio, resonating deeply and prodigiously."
Fred Kirshnit, New York Sun, 05 August 2008

"Matthew Rose was a suitably burly, saturnine Publio."
Allan Kozinn, New York Times, 05 August 2008

Barbican Centre – ‘A Child of our Time’ – LSO / Davis – 16 & 18 December 2007

"The quartet of soloists rose to the occasion…the bass Matthew Rose provided plangent support."
Neil Fisher, The Times, 18 December 2007

"Matthew Rose's powerful eloquence as the bass."
Richard Fairman, Financial Times, 19 December 2007

Symphony Hall Birmingham – Beethoven Symphony no. 9 – CBSO / Oramo – June 2008

"Bass Matthew Rose set the tone with a commanding and clear opening solo but this was a strong quartet and all sang well."
John Quinn, Seen and Heard Concert Review

Edinburgh Festival – ‘Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg’ – 02 September 2006

"…it was the younger talents who stole the show, among them Matthew Rose’s Pognor."
Andrew Clark, The Financial Times, 04 September 2006

"…the gloriously resonant and intelligent Pognor of Matthew Rose, a great bass in the making…"
Michael Tanner, The Spectator, 16 September 2006

"Matthew Rose was Veit Pogner, every bit the pater familias he should be."
Jim Pritchard, Seen and Heard International, September, 2006

RECITAL REVIEWS

Rosenblatt Recital Series – St. John’s Smith Square – 10 February 2010

"It is always helpful for a young opera singer to have a role that becomes a personal speciality. For Matthew Rose, the British bass, that role has been Bottom in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream – his international calling-card in recent years at the Royal Opera, Glyndebourne, Lyon, Houston and La Scala, Milan.

It turned up as one of the closing items in his recital on Wednesday: 'Bottom’s Dream', the main solo, sung with the beauty of tone and clarity of words that have become recognisable as his hallmarks, and with the humour lightly touched in – no ass’s head to raise a guffaw here.

His expressive and lyrical voice has the lovely quality of a bow being drawn across a string – a melodious cello, rather than a double bass, even if he did go down to a resonant low bass G at the end of Prince Gremin’s aria from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin.

The recital had made a fine start with Ibert’s short cycle of Don Quixote songs, wittily accompanied by Iain Burnside. It is always a good sign when a singer’s French is clear enough for the audience to understand him without having to follow the words in the programme and Rose embodied a natural dignity, if not the larger-than-life character of the legendary Chaliapin for whom the songs were written.

A group of Schubert songs in Italian, like little arias from a forgotten comic opera by Mozart, gave notice of what a fine Figaro he must make. Butterworth’s A Shropshire Lad settings, though not touching the depths they can, were sung with a rare and poignant beauty. As Bottom himself might have said, a voice of more promise is such that 'the eye of man hath not heard'. "
Richard Fairman, The Financial Times, 15 February 2010

RECORDING REVIEWS

Handel: Messiah – AAM / King’s College Choir, Cambridge / Cleobury (EMI, 2009)

"Matthew Rose’s open-throated Augustan roar is marvellously direct…"
David Vickers, Gramophone, September 2009

Tippett: ‘A Child of our Time’ – LSO / Davis (LSO Live, 2008)

"Of the four soloists, Matthew Rose’s bass comes across the best. A former Young Artist of The Royal Opera, Rose's noble rendition of the all-important narrative verses is poised and a cornerstone of the performance."
Dominic McHugh, Musical Criticism, 04 July 2008

Natalie Dessay: ‘Italian Opera Arias’ – Concerto Köln / Pidò (Virgin Classics, 2007)

"This disc is very much an ensemble effort…[with] heartfelt support from colleagues commiserating with or for the soprano; Matthew Rose blends memorably…"
Disc of the month, Warren Keith Wright, Opera Magazine, June 2008

Berlioz: ‘L’enfance du Christ’ – LSO / Davis (LSO Live, 2007)

"Matthew Rose is an outstanding Herod, recalling his recurring dream with the perfect mixture of anguish and anger while always maintaining an appropriately kingly mien."
Marc Rochester, International Record Review, September 2007

"Among many delights is a heartfelt account of Herod’s dream from Matthew Rose."
Classic FM Magazine, October 2007

"Matthew Rose brings humanity to Herod."
The Times, August 2007

Repertoire

BACH
Cantata No. 82 'Ich habe genug'

BARBER
Vanessa - Doctor

BEETHOVEN
Fidelio - Don Fernando
Mass in C
Symphony No. 9

BERLIOZ
L'enfance du Christ - Herod

BIZET
Carmen - Zuniga

BRITTEN
Billy Budd - Claggart / Lieutenant Ratcliffe / Mr Flint
Curlew River - Abbott
A Midsummer Night's Dream - Bottom
Noye's Fludde - Noye
Peter Grimes - Swallow
The Rape of Lucretia - Collatinus

BRUCKNER
Mass in F Minor

DONIZETTI
Lucia di Lammermoor - Raimondo
Maria Stuada - Talbot

ELGAR
The Dream of Gerontius

HALEVY
La Juive - Albert

HANDEL
Acis and Galatea - Polyphemus
Athalia - Abner
Messiah
Theodora - Valens

HAYDN
The Creation
The Seasons
Nelson Mass

JANACEK
The Cunning Little Vixen - Haraschta
Glagolitic Mass

MONTEVERDI
L'incoronazione di Poppea - Seneca

MOZART
Die Zauberflöte - Speaker / Sarastro
Don Giovanni - Leporello
La clemenza di Tito - Publio
Le nozze di Figaro - Figaro
Requiem
Vesperae solennes de Confessore (KV 339)

OFFENBACH
Les contes d'Hoffmann - Crespel

PUCCINI
La bohème - Colline

ROSSINI
Il Barbiere di Siviglia - Don Basilio

SHOSTAKOVICH
Symphony No. 14

SCHUBERT
Mass in E flat major (D950)

SCHUMANN
Manfred

STRAUSS
Ariadne auf Naxos - Truffuladino
Elektra - Tutor

STRAVINSKY
Oedipus Rex - Tiresias
Pulcinella
The Rake's Progress - Nick Shadow

TCHAIKOVSKY
Eugene Onegin - Gremin

TIPPETT
A Child of our Time

VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
The Pilgrim's Progress - Evangelist / Envy / 3rd Shepherd

VERDI
Aida - Il re
Don Carlos - Monk
Falstaff - Pistola
Otello - Lodovico
Un ballo in maschera - Tom

WAGNER
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg - Pogner
Das Rheingold - Fasolt

Links

The CD 'Liszt Abroad', featuring Rebecca Evans, Matthew Rose, Andrew Kennedy and Iain Burnside has been nominated as one of three in the Vocal category for the BBC Music Magazine 2010 Awards. To vote for this recording please is click on: http://www.bbcmusicmagazine.com/awards2010 find the vocal category, enter the vote and register.

Contact

Keiron Cooke

Cathy Stokes

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