Joshua Hopkins

Hopkins brings his most personal project, Songs for Murdered Sisters, to two new venues this season, performing the song cycle with the Victoria Symphony in Canada and University of Michigan’s Philharmonia Orchestra in Ann Arbor. Written by composer Jake Heggie and author Margaret Atwood, Songs for Murdered Sisters was conceived by Hopkins in remembrance of his sister, Nathalie Warmerdam, to bring awareness to ending intimate partner violence. The critically acclaimed film is available on YouTube and the JUNO-nominated digital album, released on the Pentatone label, is available on all streaming platforms. 

Last season, Hopkins made a series of notable debuts throughout Germany: at the Bayerische Staatsoper as Guglielmo in Mozart’s Così fan tutte, at the Semperoper Dresden as Figaro in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, and at the Staatsoper Berlin as Apollo/Angry Audience Member in Foccroulle's Cassandra following the work’s world premiere in 2023 at La Monnaie where he also made his house debut. He returned to The Metropolitan Opera in a signature role as Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, which featured on a worldwide simulcast as part of The Met’s Live in HD series. On the concert stage, he brought Songs for Murdered Sisters to a sold-out audience at Carnegie Hall and to Marian Anderson Hall with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Philadelphia Orchestra for its American orchestral premiere. Hopkins returned to Montreal’s Orchestre Métropolitain for his first Beethoven Symphony No. 9 under Yannick Nézet-Séguin and joined Manfred Honeck for performances of Haydn’s Mass in Time of War with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. 

Recent operatic highlights have included the title role in Don Giovanni at the Hyogo Performing Arts Center, Japan; a return to The Metropolitan Opera as Belcore in Donizetti’s L’Elisir d’amore; and Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia at The Santa Fe Opera in a new production by Stephen Barlow.  Latest role debuts include Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de Perles at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris with Les Grandes Voix; the title role of Cavaliere di Belfiore in a new Christopher Alden production of Verdi’s Un giorno di regno for Garsington Opera; Dandini in Rossini’s La Cenerentola and Raimbaud in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory for Lyric Opera of Chicago conducted by Enrique Mazzola; the title role of Britten’s Billy Budd with Central City Opera; and Athanaël in a concert version of Massenet’s Thaïs with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Andrew Davis and recorded for Chandos Records. 

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 Orpheus in the world premiere of Matthew Aucoin and Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice for Los Angeles Opera, which he also performed at The Metropolitan Opera including a worldwide simulcast for The Met’s Live in HD series; and Niccolò Machiavelli in the premiere of Mohammed Fairouz and David Ignatius’s The New Prince in his company debut for Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam. 

Profoundly committed to the art of song, Hopkins’s first recital disc, Let Beauty Awake, features songs of Barber, Bowles, Glick, and Vaughan Williams on the ATMA Classique label. 

2024/25 season / 637 words. Not to be altered without permission.