Baritone Jonathan Sells was born in London and is currently a member of the International Opera Studio at the Zürich Opera House. He graduated with distinction both from Cambridge University and the Opera Course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (Janice Chapman), where he was subsequently a Guildhall Artist Fellow. He took 1st prize at the Thelma King Vocal Awards, won the Rose Bowl at the Guildhall Gold Medal, and won the Guildhall Wigmore Recital Prize, which led to a full-length solo recital in Wigmore Hall in March 2010. His awards include the Prix Thierry Mermod for singers at the Verbier Festival Academy, the Worshipful Company of Musicians’ Silver Medal, and the Gottlob Frick Bronze Medal.
Operatic experience includes Bottom (Zurich Opera), Hérault & Apollon Alceste (Chelsea Opera Group), L’allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato (Palais Garnier, Opéra de Paris), Kuchař Z mrtvého domu (From the House of the Dead, Zurich Opera), Pastore & Spirito (Teatro Real, Madrid) and title role L’Orfeo, Don Alfonso (cover, Glyndebourne Festival Opera), Count Almaviva, Don Giovanni, Leporello (Verbier Festival; Bahrain), Luther Les Contes d’Hoffmann and Der König Die Kluge (Zurich Opera), Rambaldo La rondine, Sleep & Mopsa The Fairy Queen (Aix-en-Provence Festival Academy), Bartolo Il barbiere di Siviglia, Slook La cambiale di matrimonio, Prime Minister in Sallinen’s The King Goes Forth to France, Starker Blinder in the world premiere of Anno Schreier’s Die Stadt der Blinden and Perrückenmacher Ariadne auf Naxos (Zurich Opera). This Summer he will make his role-debut as Rossini’s Figaro in Schloss Hallwyl, Switzerland.
Particular highlights from Jonathan’s busy concert schedule include Bach cantatas with John Eliot Gardiner in the Berliner Philharmonie, the Jardin des Voix world tour with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants, and performing and recording the spectacular role of Plutone in Monteverdi’s Ballo dell’ingrate with I Fagiolini.
He has performed as a soloist in the Alte Oper (Frankfurt), Metz Arsenal, Auditorio Nacional Madrid, Barbican Hall, Berliner Philharmonie, Berner Münster, Cadogan Hall, Carnegie Hall, Chapelle Royale de Versailles, Cité de la musique, Opéra Comique, Fondacion Gulbenkian Lisbon, Grand Théâtre de Provence, King’s College Chapel, Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern, Lincoln Center, Palais des Beaux Arts (Brussels), Pisa Cathedral, Royal Albert Hall, Riga Cathedral, Prague Rudolfinum, Salle Pleyel, Sheldonian Theatre, Snape Maltings, St John’s Smith Square, Thomaskirche Leipzig, Tonhalle Zurich, Usher Hall, and Wigmore Hall, with conductors including William Christie, Stephen Cleobury, Richard Egarr, John Eliot Gardiner, Edward Higginbottom, Jan Latham-Koenig, Stephen Layton, and Masaaki Suzuki.
Art song is an essential part of Jonathan Sells’s singing life. He has been lucky enough to learn from Malcolm Martineau, Graham Johnson, Thomas Quasthoff, Anthony Rolfe Johnson, Robin Bowman, Cornelia Kallisch, Richard Stokes, Sarah Walker and Julius Drake. Having performed at the Chelsea Schubert Festival, Leeds Lieder+, London Song Festival and City of London Festival, Jonathan gave his debut recital at Wigmore Hall in March 2010, with a programme of songs from the 1880s by Duparc, Debussy, Mahler, and Wolf. His recital repertoire includes Schubert’s Winterreise, Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Kerner Lieder and Liederkreis op.39, Debussy’s Cinq poèmes de Baudelaire, Poulenc’s Chansons gaillardes, Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen and Das Lied von der Erde, and Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch. Future plans include the world premiere of Edward Rushton’s Pandora, organische Maschine for baritone and piano, and a recital in the London English Song Festival.
