The Operatic Tenor Philip Sheffield has been performing professionally for the last 17 years throughout Europe since his debut in 1988 at Brussel's Opera house La Monnaie de Munt in the acclaimed production of Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea by Luc Bondy with Catherine Malfitano in the principal role.
Since then Philip has sung over 70 roles at many prestigious venues including The Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Nederlandse Opera, Vlaamse Opera, English National Opera, Opera North, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Staatsteater Saarbrücken, Opera du Rhin (Strasbourg), Opera Comique (Paris), Opera de Nantes, München Biennale and the Savonlinna Festival in Finland.
Operatic career highlights thus far have included singing the role of Pelleas at the Opera Comique in Paris conducted by Georges Prêtre, Don Ottavio with the acclaimed Mozartian conductor Leopold Hager, Alonso in Tom Ades' new Opera The Tempest in Strasbourg, Edward IV in Robert Carsen's production of Richard III at the Vlaamse Opera and the lead role of Terry Bond in Playing Away for Opera North and The Munich Biennale conducted by Paul Daniel and directed by David Pountney.
Concert highlights have included several performances of Britten's War Requiem, most notably at the Berlin Philharmonie on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the end of World War 2 in 2005. He also performed the work in Luxembourg as part of that city's celebration of holding the presidency of the EU. Other highlights include The Dream of Gerontius with Yuri Simonov in Brussels, Serenade for tenor horn and strings in the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and Britten's Nocturne in the Berlin Philharmonie. He has also performed with many leading orchestra's in the contemporary field including the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group.
He is perhaps best know for his work in 20th century repertoire and has created many roles. In Saarbrücken his performance of the lead role in Gerhard Stäblers Madame La Peste was described by The Süddeutscher Zeitung as “Strahlend bei Stimme und schön wie Che Guevara”. He recently created the role of Edward IV in Giorgio Batistelli's acclaimed new opera Richard III. He has created roles in operas by other prominent composers such as Jonathan Dove, Alexander Goehr, Hans Jurgen Von Bose, Ben Mason, Michael Berkeley, Elena Firsova and Nicola Lefanu.
In January 2006 he will perform the Songs for Dov by Sir Michael Tippett in Antwerp and Gent with The Vlaamse Opera Orchestra conducted by Luca Pfaff. He will then take a leading role in Giorgio Batistelli's opera Prova d'orchestra at the Vlaamse Opera. This will be followed by performances of On Wenlock Edge by Ralph Vaughan Williams with The Eonta String Quartet and pianist Andrew Wise. Concerts in 2006 will include Rossini's Stabat Mater with the Brussels Philharmonic and Carl Orf's Carmina Burana at the Schleswig Holstein Festival. Philip will also create the role of Uncle Crom in Music Theatre Wales production of a new opera by Lynn Plowman called House of the Gods. Performance dates and venues will be announced shortly but will include the Brighton Festival, New Theater Cardiff and the Linbury studio at Covent Garden.
