Joshua Hopkins

Having established himself as a prominent leading artist throughout the United States and Canada, Hopkins appears regularly at The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Canadian Opera Company and The Santa Fe Opera amongst many others, and has performed under the baton of renowned conductors such as Sir Andrew Davis, Alan Gilbert, Marin Alsop, James Gaffigan, Yannick Nézet–Séguin, Nicholas Carter and Enrique Mazzola.

Hopkins opens his 2024-25 season with his company debut at the Semperoper Dresden as Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia, returning to Dresden later in the season as Papageno Die Zauberflöte. He also returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Conte Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro, which will be broadcast Live in HD, and his company debut at the Staatsoper Berlin as Apollo/Angry Audience Member Cassandra following the work’s world premiere in 2023 at La Monnaie. On the concert platform, he performs Fauré Requiem and Handel Messiah with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Haydn Mass in Time of War with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and his most personal work, Songs for Murdered Sisters, with the Naples Philharmonic and with the Philadelphia Orchestra at Carnegie Hall conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. 
 
Highlights of Hopkins' 2023-24 season included his company debut at La Monnaie De Munt, Brussels, creating the roles of Apollo/Angry Audience Member in the world premiere of the newly commissioned opera, Cassandra by Bernard Foccroulle and Matthew Jocelyn, directed by Marie-Eve Signeyrole and conducted by Kazushi Ono. He also returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to make his role debut as Dandini La Cenerentola, to the Canadian Opera Company as Malatesta Don Pasquale, and Los Angeles Opera as Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia. In concert, he performed Handel Messiah with Jane Glover and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Christmas Oratorio with the Orchestra of St Luke’s at Carnegie Hall. 
 
As mentioned above, Hopkins' most personal work, Songs for Murdered Sisters, is a song cycle by composer Jake Heggie and author Margaret Atwood, conceived by Hopkins in remembrance of his sister, Nathalie Warmerdam. Following critically acclaimed film and album releases, the chamber version of Songs for Murdered Sisters received its live world premiere with the composer at the piano at Houston’s Rothko Chapel in March 2022, in partnership with Houston Grand Opera. Last season Hopkins gave the live world premiere of the work's orchestral version alongside Canada’s National Arts Centre Orchestra under the baton of Alexander Shelley in Ottawa, Toronto and Kingston, and the European premiere of the cycle at the Trasimeno Festival in Perugia, Italy with pianist Angela Hewitt. 
 
Recent operatic highlights have included his company debut at the Hyogo Performing Arts Center, Japan, in the title role of Don Giovanni; a return to The Metropolitan Opera to sing Belcore L’Elisir d’amore and to reprise the role of Papageno The Magic Flute in Julie Taymor’s renowned production; role debuts as Raimbaud Le Comte Ory and Belcore L’Elisir d’amore, both at the Lyric Opera of Chicago conducted by Enrique Mazzola; the title role of Billy Budd with Central City Opera; Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia at The Santa Fe Opera in a new production by Stephen Barlow; and Athanaël in a concert version of Massenet Thaïs with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis and recorded for Chandos Records. Past seasons have featured the roles Count Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro at the Glyndebourne Festival, Verbier Festival, Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera and Washington National Opera; Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia in house debuts at Opéra de Rouen and Den Norske Opera in Oslo, as well as Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera, Opera Lyra Ottawa, and the Glimmerglass Festival in a new production by Francesca Zambello; Guglielmo in Così fan tutte in his company debut at Oper Frankfurt and at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Silvio Pagliacci at Palm Beach Opera, directed by James Robinson; Papageno The Magic Flute at the Metropolitan Opera, The Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Washington National Opera, Vancouver Opera, as well as Marcello La bohème at the Canadian Opera Company and Houston Grand Opera in a new production by John Caird. 
 
Hopkins has developed a reputation for his work in contemporary operas by celebrated American composers, creating leading roles for the world premieres of new works both in the US and Europe. Recent original roles have included Niccolò Machiavelli in the premiere of Mohammed Fairouz and David Ignatius The New Prince in his company debut at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam; Harry Bailey in Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer It’s a Wonderful Life at Houston Grand Opera and in his debut at San Francisco Opera; and creating the role of Orpheus in the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin and Sarah Ruhl Eurydice at Los Angeles Opera, which he also performed at The Metropolitan Opera including a worldwide simulcast as part of The MET’s Live in HD series. 
 
Hopkins made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Ping Turandot in the 2009-10 season, conducted by Andris Nelsons. His notable past engagements have also included Cecil in Sir David McVicar’s new production of Donizetti Maria Stuarda conducted by Maurizio Benini for The Metropolitan Opera, his Lyric Opera of Chicago debut as Tadeusz The Passenger in David Pountney’s acclaimed production, and his role debut as the title character in Don Giovanni with Utah Opera. Further highlights include the role of Junior in Bernstein A Quiet Place with New York City Opera, Sid Albert Herring at The Santa Fe Opera under the baton of Sir Andrew Davis, Dr. Falke in a new production of Die Fledermaus at The Santa Fe Opera, Mercutio in Bartlett Sher’s production of Roméo et Juliette with Lyric Opera of Chicago and The Metropolitan Opera, and Valentin Faust at Houston Grand Opera and Washington National Opera. 
 
Past concert engagements have included performances of Peter Lieberson Songs of Love and Sorrow with the Monterey Symphony and in his European concert debut with the Orquesta Sinfónica del Principado de Asturias in Spain; Brahms Ein deutsches Requiem with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and Houston Symphony; Bach Magnificat with Orchestra of St. Luke’s under the baton of Robert Spano at Carnegie Hall; and both Nielsen Symphony No. 3 and Mozart Mass in C minor with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Alan Gilbert. Hopkins toured North America with Bernard Labadie and Les Violons du Roy offering performances of Bach Christmas Oratorio and Handel Messiah in Quebec, Montreal, Los Angeles, and at Carnegie Hall in New York; performed and recorded Bach St. John Passion with Portland Baroque Orchestra and Arion Orchestre Baroque; and performed Handel Messiah with many symphonies across North America, including San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Arts Centre Orchestra, and National Symphony Orchestra. Additional highlights of his concert schedule include his debut with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Vladimir Ashkenazy in performances of Peer Gynt, Haydn Creation with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and Handel Dettingen Te Deum with the San Francisco Symphony. 
 
Profoundly committed to the art of song, Hopkins' first recital disc, Let Beauty Awake, features songs of Barber, Bowles, Glick, and Vaughan Williams on the ATMA Classique label. He has given recitals in Chicago, Montreal, New York, Santa Fe, Toronto, Vancouver and Washington, D.C. Highlights of his varied appearances at Carnegie Hall include the world premiere of Michael Tilson Thomas Rilke Songs, a concert highlighting Benjamin Britten alongside Ian Bostridge and Iestyn Davies, and more recently joining the Met Orchestra Chamber Ensemble for an all-French programme. Hopkins has collaborated with Julius Drake, Richard Goode, Marc-André Hamelin, Angela Hewitt, Graham Johnson, and Warren Jones.  
 
Hopkins has won numerous awards and distinctions. Most recently, he won a JUNO Award for his portrayal of Athanaël in Chandos Record’s recording of Massenet Thaïs in concert with Toronto Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. He was the winner of both the Verbier Festival Academy’s 2008 Prix d’Honneur and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Award in 2006. He was also a prizewinner at the prestigious 2006 ARD Musikwettbewerb in Munich and at the 2005 Operalia Competition held in Madrid. In 2002, José Carreras presented him with the first-place prize in the Julián Gayarre International Singing Competition in Pamplona. Hopkins has also received prizes from the George London Foundation, the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation, and won the Sylva Gelber Foundation Award from the Canada Council for the Arts. 

2024/25 season / 1437 words. Not to be altered without permission.