Graeme Broadbent

DipRCM (T/Op/PG/Perf), DipPG (Moscow Conservatory)

Graeme Broadbent (bass) was born in Halifax and studied at the Royal College of Music with Lyndon Van der Pump, where he was awarded Teaching, Opera, Postgraduate and Performing diplomas. He was invited by Yevgeny Nesterenko to study in Moscow and entered the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire in 1990, with the assistance of scholarships from the British Council and the Soviet Government. At the end of his studies in 1991, he performed a solo recital in the Rachmaninov Hall and was awarded the Tchaikovsky Conservatoire Postgraduate Diploma in solo singing.

Graeme has appeared in recital and oratorio throughout the UK and abroad; including The Dream of Gerontius & Verdi's Requiem (Royal Albert Hall), Mahler’s 8th Symphony & Beethoven’s 9th Symphony (Royal Festival Hall) and Shostakovich’s 14th Symphony (Queen Elizabeth Hall).

In his career to date, Graeme has performed 137 operatic roles. His 43 roles for the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, include Angelotti (Tosca) with Luciano Pavarotti in his final performances there, King Marke (Tristan und Isolde), King of Egypt (Aïda), Timur (Turandot), Colline (La Bohème), Dr Grenvil (La Traviata), Nightwatchman (Die Meistersinger) and Voice of Neptune (Idomeneo); also Ariadenus (Ormindo) and Satyr & Pluto (Orpheus), with the Royal Opera at the Globe's Sam Wanamaker Playhouse and Odin in the world premiere of Gavin Higgins' The Monstrous Child.

Graeme made his Bolshoi Opera debut as Ratcliffe (Billy Budd) and other international roles include Claggart (St Petersburg & Genoa); Commendatore & Padre Guardiano (Genoa) and Swallow (Rome & Beijing). He has also performed roles with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, at the New York Metropolitan, Baden-Baden Festspielhaus, Paris Théâtre des Champs-Élysées & Opéra Comique, Vienna Theater an der Wien, Stuttgart Staatstheater, New Zealand Opera and the opera houses of Monte Carlo, Lyon, Montpellier, Nimes, Tourcoing and Caen; also at the Lugano, Granada, Athens and Spoleto festivals.

With Glyndebourne Graeme has sung Sarastro, Commendatore, Folz and Dr Grenvil. For Scottish Opera; Gremin, Basilio, Dr Bartolo, Father Trulove and Sergeant of Police. For Opera Holland Park; Ramfis, Commendatore, Gremin, Sparafucile and Ashby. For ENO; Basilio and Doctor (Punch & Judy). For Opera North he has performed the world premieres of two operas by Jonathan Dove; The Adventures of Pinocchio and Swanhunter. He also sang in Thomas Ades’ Powder Her Face at the Almeida and Aldeburgh festivals and for Channel 4, also released on DVD. Graeme appears on 7 other complete opera DVDs and 16 CDs, including as Don Diego in Malcolm Arnold's The Dancing Master, which won the BBC Music Magazine Award for Opera in 2021.

Graeme Broadbent has been teaching singing for over 35 years, since gaining his RCM teaching diploma, and has had many student successes. Since becoming a professor at the RCM in 2001, many of his RCM students have gone on to sing principal roles at Covent Garden; four progressing directly from the RCM onto the Jette Parker Artists Programme, where Graeme has also been a vocal coach since 2007.

Find out more about Graeme. Visit website

Faculties / departments: Vocal Studies

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