Corby Welch
The American tenor started 2018 with a production of “Die Walküre” as a spectacular SIEGMUND at the Düsseldorf Rhine Opera. Shortly before, he was celebrated as an impressive TANNHÄUSER at the National Opera House Riga, a role he then repeated in a new production at the Weimar National Theater.
Since 2011, Corby Welch has established himself as one of the promising new dramatic tenors singing ERIK in “Der fliegende Holländer” in Düsseldorf, at the Riga National Opera, the Opéra de Wallonie in Liège and the Braunschweig State Theatre, LOHENGRIN in Düsseldorf/Duisburg, Magdeburg and in concerts at the Neuschwanstein Castle or debuting as LOGE in “Das Rheingold” at the Grand Théâtre de Genève.
After completing his studies in Minnesota(USA) and Mannheim(Germany), Corby Welch started his career as a lyric tenor with engagements at the Hamburg State Opera, the Aalto Theater Essen, the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, in Modena and Ferarra. He performed at the Music Festival Schleswig Holstein, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Schwetzingen Festival and the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival.
Corby Welch was a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein Düsseldorf/Duisburg from 2003-2018, where he had the opportunity to develop his repertoire. In the first years he sang major roles of the lyric repertoire such as BELMONTE , TAMINO, DON OTTAVIO, TITO and later the PRINCE in “Rusalka”, MATTEO in “Arabella,” KAISER in "Frau ohne Schatten," and the title role in PETER GRIMES. Lately, he could be seen as PINKERTON, BACCHUS, the TAMBOURMAJOR, SIEGMUND and ERIK.
Recently he also impressed in the title role of William Bolcom’s “ McTeague” replacing an ailing Stephen Gould at the Linz Municipal Theatre. In addition he could be heard as Siegmund/Siegfried in the Philharmonie am Gasteig Munich in Loriot’s “Ring in one Evening”, as PYLADES in Gluck’s “Iphigénie en Tauride” at the Hong Kong Arts Festival, as PETER QUINT in “Turn of the Screw” in Taichung, Taiwan, ZEN in Elliot Carter’s opera “What Next," with Missa Solemnis and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in the Cologne Philharmonic, and Dvorak's Requiem in Darmstadt.
Concert and operatic engagements have brought Corby Welch to collaborate with conductors such as Ingo Metzmacher, Peter Schreier, Sir Neville Marriner, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Dennis Russell Davies, Marek Janowski, Eije Oue, Michael Schoenwandt, John Mauceri, Zoltán Peskó, Wen-Pin Chien, Helmuth Rilling, Kirill Karabits, Stefan Soltesz, John Fiore, Robert Trevino, and Axel Kober, and stage directors like Stefan Herheim, Dietrich Hilsdorf, Tatjana Gürbaca, Christoph Loy, Christof Nel, Karoline Gruber, or Dieter Dorn. He performed with orchestras and ensembles such as the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin, the Hannover Radio Orchestra, the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne,the Berlin Radio Orchestra (RSB), the Danish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the International Bach Academy, the RIAS Chamber Choir, the Balthasar- Neumann- Ensemble, the Stuttgart Chamber Choir and many others.
His vast concert repertoire includes works by Beethoven, Mozart, Dvorak, Bruckner Schumann and Mahler as well as the Passions by J.S. Bach, Handel's Oratorios and contemporary works by Krzysztof Penderecki, Bruno Maderna, Sofia Gubaidulina and Moritz Eggert. Concerts brought him to most European countries, as well as Russia, Japan, China and the US.
Corby Welch is also a much sought-after Lied singer. In the last few years he sang a,o. Janàcek’s "Zápisník zmizelého" (Tagebuch eines Verschollenen), Britten’s "Winter Words" and "Eight Songs for Tenor and Harp," Finzi’s "Young Man's Exhortation," Schubert’s “Die schöne Müllerin,“ Schumann’s "Dichterliebe," Liederkreis op. 24, "Minnespiel op. 101," and "Myrten" .
Recently, he interpreted Britten's “War Requiem” in Aachen and at the Kassel State Theatre followed by “Elijah” in Bremen (Glocke), “Paulus” in Milano with La Verdi Orchestra, the St. Johns Passion with the Gütersloh Bach Choir, the St. Matthew Passion with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Mahler’s “Lied von der Erde” in Buffalo, New York and Basel, Bruckner' F minor Mass in Tokyo, Japan, the 2nd act of TRISTAN AND ISOLDE in Taipei, Taiwan and Listzt’s FAUST Symphony in Giuyang, China.
Corby Welch can be heard on numerous broadcast and CD recordings including Haydn‘s “Theresia Mass”(Hänssler) and Gubaidulina’s “Passion of St. John and Resurrection” with Helmuth Rilling, Meinardus “Luther in Worms”with Hermann Max (CPO), Reichas” Leonore” with Frieder Bernius (Orfeo), und Hindemiths “Lange Weihnachtsmahl” mit Marek Janowski (Wergo).
Last season the versatile artist could be seen as SIEGMUND, PETER GRIMES and TAMBOURMAJOR at the Rhine Opera Düsseldorf. He was also TANNHÄUSER in a new production of the Weimar National Theatre, where he also sang SAMSON in concert performances of "Samson et Dalila."
In the season 18/19 Welch makes his debut as SIEGFRIED in the „Ring“ in Düsseldorf-Duisburg, where he also portrays BACCHUS, PETER GRIMES and SIEGMUND. He returns to the Riga National Opera as TANNHÄUSER and as ERIK in a new production of „Der Fliegende Holländer," performs SIEGMUND in a concert performance of "Die Walküre" with the Transylvania State Philharmonic, and sings Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at the opening Concert of the Weiwuying Center for the Arts in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Source: https://www.opera.lv/en/artists/opera-soloists/guest-artists/corby-welch
