MatthewDurkan

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  • Baritone

About Matthew

As a Harewood Artist at the English National Opera (2015-2020), Matthew gave over 100 performances for the company, including Demetrius A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Schaunard La Bohème, Marullo Rigoletto, Dancairo Carmen, Ormonte Partenope, Yamadori Madama Butterfly, Polythemus Acis and Galatea, Counsel Trial by Jury, Fiorello Il barbiere di Siviglia, Hel Helson Paul Bunyan and Malcolm Fleet Marnie.

Last season's highlights included a return to the Royal Opera House to sing Flemish Deputy in Don Carlo and Dancairo Carmen for the English National Opera.

Other recent roles include Belcore L’elisir d’amore for Glyndebourne on Tour, Demetrius A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Opéra National de Montpellier, Marcello La Bohème for English National Opera, the title role in Don Giovanni with Diva Opera, Brabantischer Edler Lohengrin for the Royal Opera House and Escamillo Carmen for Longborough Festival Opera.

Elsewhere, he has sung Masetto Don Giovanni with Opéra de Rouen Haute Normandie, Opéra Royal de Versailles and Longborough Festival, Melisso Alcina and Elviro Serse with Longborough Festival Opera and Belcore L’elisir d’amore at Iford Arts Festival.

Matthew was winner of the 2014 Stuart Burrows International Voice Award and a finalist in the 2014 Kathleen Ferrier Competition.

Download programme biography   

Contact

For availability and general enquiries:

Keiron Cooke

Keiron Cooke

Associate Director

Representation

General Management with Askonas Holt

Follow Matthew

Video

Photos

Selected Repertoire

BIZET

Carmen (Moralès / Le Dancaïre)

BRITTEN

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Demetrius)   •   Paul Bunyan (Hel Helson)

DONIZETTI

Don Pasquale (Malatesta)   •   L’elisir d’amore (Belcore)

HANDEL

Acis & Galatea (Polyphemus)   •   Alcina (Melisso)   •   Partenope (Ormonte)   •   Serse (Elviro)

MOZART

Così fan tutte (Guglielmo)   •   Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni/Masetto)   •   Le Nozze di Figaro (Il Conte)   •   Die Zauberflöte (Papageno)

PUCCINI

La bohème (Schaunard)   •   Gianni Schicchi (title role)   •   Madama Butterfly (Yamadori)

ROSSINI

Il barbiere di Siviglia (Fiorello/Figaro)

TCHAIKOVSKY

Eugene Onegin (title role)

VERDI

Rigoletto (Marullo)

WEILL

Street Scene (Frank Maurrant)

Press

  • BIZET, Caremen

    Longborough Festival Opera
    Jul 2022

    • Durkan's was the best-acted performance among the leads, creating a relaxed and charming athlete for whom anyone would trade in poor, damaged Don Jose.

      • Opera Now Magazine
      • 01 August 2022

  • MOZART, Don Giovanni

    Diva Opera
    Aug 2021

    • The title role is played by Matthew Durkan , whose baritone is robust to say the least and emitted with sonority and assurance over a beautiful width of range, with a clear and incisive tone. Efficient and convincing in the incarnation of a young inveterate seducer to whom nothing and nobody can resist, not even morality, the British singer is also illustrated by a song varied in nuances, and by a finely chiseled diction which earned him cross without significant hindrance the articulation obstacles erected by the “Fin ch'han dal vino” .

  • DONIZETTI, L'elisir d'amore

    Glyndebourne on Tour
    Oct 2019

    • The quest for love is brought about quicker after the arrival of Sergeant Belcore – played by the talented Matthew Durkan... The Glyndebourne cast hit the perfect mix of high standard voices, acting and performance perfection, comic timing and character looks.

    • Matthew Durkan has the ideal physique for the swaggering Belcore, tall and burly, and he makes the most of it, inserting himself forcefully into the action and presenting an excellent contract to Nemorino

    • Matthew Durkan is brilliantly pompous and self confident, handsome and bold and every inch the arrogant suitor.

  • BRITTEN, A Midsummer Night's Dream

    L'Opera de Montpellier
    May 2019

    • Un autre ensemble vocal équilibré est formé par le quatuor des amants. Les personnages de commedia dell’arte relèvent une écriture intense en drame. La tension est quasiment omniprésente entre les deux couples : Helena de Marie-Adeline Henry par son ample voix de poitrine en colère contre le volumineux baryton Demetrius (Matthew Durkan) et le ténor étoffé de Lysander (Thomas Atkins) en uniformes de soldats, soudainement épris d’elle

    • Lysander (prise de rôle de Thomas Atkins) possède un art fourni de la gravure sonore et exaltée, et Demetrius (Matthew Durkan) projette par sa voix et sa présence scénique la bonhomie du personnage.