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CliveBayley

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  • Bass

About Clive

Born in Manchester, Clive Bayley sings regularly with major opera companies in a diverse repertoire spanning Monteverdi, Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Alban Berg, Benjamin Britten, Birtwistle, Richard Wagner and Ligeti.

Recent and forthcoming engagements include Swallow Peter Grimes at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and English National Opera, Trulove The Rake’s Progress and Doctor Carlos Conde in a new production of The Exterminating Angel at Opéra de Paris, Daland The Flying Dutchman at Opera North, Savjol Prokofjevič Dikój Kát'a Kabanová at Grange Park Opera, Somnus/Cadmus Semele at Glyndebourne, Prison Governor From the House of the Dead at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Swallow Peter Grimes and Spectre du roi défunt in Ambroise Thomas’s Hamlet at Opéra de Paris, and Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia at The Norwegian Opera & Ballet.

Other operatic engagements include Tiresias Oedipe at Opéra de Paris; the title role in Battistelli’s Julius Caesar at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma; the Doctor Wozzeck at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Swallow Peter Grimes at Teatro Real Madrid and Oper Frankfurt; the title role in Ivan the Terrible, Capulet Romeo and Juliet and the Sacristan The Excursions of Mr Brouček at Grange Park Opera; Savjol Prokofjevič Dikój Kát'a Kabanová at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; Judge and Commissaire in Philip Glass’s Orphée, and Priest/Badger The Cunning Little Vixen at English National Opera; Claggart Billy Budd at Gothenburg Opera and in the Richard Jones production at Oper Frankfurt; Fafner Siegfried with the Hallé Orchestra; Daland Der Fliegende Holländer at the Royal Danish Theatre; Publio La clemenza di Tito for Glyndebourne Festival; and First Nazarene Salome at the Edinburgh International Festival with the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner.

Clive is based in Leicester

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Contact

For availability and general enquiries:

Angelica Conner

Angelica Conner

Artist Manager
Charlotte Bateman

Charlotte Bateman

Assistant Artist Manager

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

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Season Highlights

Oct 2024
Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
Britten Peter Grimes (Swallow) Michele Mariotti (conductor) Deborah Warner (director)
Nov 2024 - Dec 2024
Opéra national de Paris
Stravinsky The Rake's Progress (Father Trulove) Susanna Mälkki (conductor) Olivier Py (director)
Feb 2025 - Mar 2025
Opera North, Leeds
Wagner Der fliegende Holländer (Daland) Annabel Arden (director)
Apr 2025
Tiroler Festspiele Erl
Wagner Parsifal (Titurel) Asher Fisch (conductor) Philipp M. Krenn (director)

Video

Photos

Selected Repertoire

Alfano

Cyrano de Bergerac (Carbon)

Bartók

Bluebeard’s Castle (Bluebeard)

Battistelli

Julius Caesar (Title Role)

Beethoven

Fidelio (Rocco)

Berg

Wozzeck (Doctor)

Britten

Billy Budd (Claggart)   •   Gloriana (Sir Walter Raleigh)   •   Peter Grimes (Swallow)   •   A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Theseus)

Cavalli

La Calisto (Sylvano)

Debussy

Pelléas et Mélisande (Arkel)

Enescu

OEdipe (Tiresias)

Glass

Orphée (Judge and Commissaire)

Gluck

Iphigénie en Tauride (Thoas)

Gounod

Roméo et Juliette (Capulet)

Handel

Giulio Cesare (Achilla)   •   Semele (Somnus/Cadmus)

Janáček

From the House of the Dead (Prison Governor)   •   The Cunning Little Vixen (Priest/Badger)   •   The Excursions of Mr Brouček (the Sacristan)   •   Kát’a Kabanová (Savjol Prokofjevič Dikój)

Ligeti

Le Grand Macabre (Astradamors)

Massenet

Don Quichotte (Title Role)

Mozart

Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Osmin)   •   Die Zauberflöte (Sarastro)   •   Don Giovanni (Leporello & Il Commendatore)   •   La clemenza di Tito (Publio)   •   Le nozze di Figaro (Bartolo)

Puccini

Manon Lescaut (Geronte)

Rimsky-Korsakov

Ivan the Terrible (Title Role)

Rossini

Il barbiere di Siviglia (Basilio)

Smetana

The Bartered Bride (Kecal)

Strauss

Salome (First Nazarene)

Tchaikovsky

Eugene Onegin (Prince Gremin)

Thomas

Hamlet (Spectre du roi défunt)

Verdi

Aida (The King of Egypt & Ramfis)   •   Attila (title role)   •   Don Carlo (Il Grande Inquisitor & Philippe II)   •   Il trovatore (Ferrando)   •   Luisa Miller (Wurm)   •   Macbeth (Banquo)

Wagner

Das Rheingold (Fasolt)   •   Die Fliegende Holländer (Daland)   •   Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Hans Foltz)   •   Die Walküre (Hunding)   •   Parsifal (Titurel)   •   Siegfried (Fafner)   •   Tannhäuser (Biterolf)   •   Tristan und Isolde (König Marke)

News

Press

  • Peter Grimes (Swallow)

    English National Opera
    Sep 2023 - Oct 2023

  • Hamlet (Spectre du roi défunt)

    Opéra national de Paris
    Mar 2023 - Apr 2023

    • Clive Bayley heard recently in Peter Grimes at Garnier is remarkable in Spectre of the deceased King

    • Clive Bayley was very convincing in the short but dramatically important role of “the spectre of the king.

    • The work of the veteran Clive Bayley as the ghost of the deceased king is impeccable, a part especially considered here in Warlikowski's production

  • Peter Grimes (Swallow)

    Opéra national de Paris
    Jan 2023 - Feb 2023

    • Clive Bayley shows himself to be authoritarian at first, with his well-emitted voice, limpid in the treble and voluptuous in the bass, with a round vibrato. As a good lawyer, he has a precise and rhythmic elocution

    • Clive Bayley offering a judge Swallow overtaken by the midday demon, with a smooth voice and always impressive bass.

    • Clive Bayley’s Swallow also was a showcase of both good singing and great acting. He is a pathetic man teased by  the nieces, but also an abuser. His confrontation with Peter Grimes in the first scene showcased his voice and capacity of speech-delivery quite well.

  • Battistelli's Julius Caesar (title role)

    Teatro dell'Opera di Roma
    Nov 2021 - Nov 2021

    • Bass Clive Bayley produced an excellent performance in the role of Julius Caesar, in which he captured his vanity, courage, and heroic demeanor. His singing was detailed, clearly articulated, and expressive.

Discography

Royal Opera 2025/26 season to feature 23 Askonas Holt artists

/02 April 2025

The Royal Opera at Covent Garden announced its plans for 2025/26 this morning, with a season that includes 23 Askonas Holt artists.

Deborah Warner’s Peter Grimes sees its first revival following the critically acclaimed 2022 premiere production. Catherine Wyn-Rogers returns from the original cast as Auntie, alongside Clive Bayley as Swallow, Christine Rice as Mrs Sedley and Jennifer France as First Niece.

Other firsts for the season are the first production of Handel’s rarely-performed Giustino on the original site (and the first UK professional staging) since the opera's premiere in 1737. Benjamin Hulett makes his Linbury Theatre debut as Vitaliano in alongside Jonathan Lemalu as Polidarte. The Royal Opera also presents its premiere production of The Makropulos Case, with Alan Oke as Count Hauk-Šendorf.

Finnegan Downie Dear returns to lead a production of The Magic Flute, with a cast that sees Julia Bullock and Lucy Crowe sharing the role of Pamina, Soloman Howard singing Sarastro and Matthew Rose as Sprecher. Soloman also sings Fafner in the third instalment of Wagner’s Ring cycle Siegfried alongside Sarah Dufresne who makes a role debut as Woodbird.

Lovers of Verdi will be treated to Rosa Feola and Andrea Mastroni singing their signature roles of Gilda and Sparafucile in Rigoletto, as well as Bekhzod Davronov and Giovanni Sala in their Royal Opera debuts singing Alfredo in La traviata, with Rachel Willis-Sørensen as Violetta.

Hrachuhí Bassénz returns as Mimi in La bohème, following a string of performances in leading roles at the Royal Opera House over the past several season, including Violetta, Desdemona and Cio-Cio San.

Also returning are Andrey Zhilikhovsky as Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, and William Thomas sings the Old Hebrew in Samson et Dalila, while Alexandros Stavrakakis makes both a house and a role debut as the Frontier Guard in Boris Godunov.

The full season can be viewed here, with tickets going on sale from 2 July.

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