Jonathan Lemalu Brander

Bass

Christopher Purves has firmly established himself as one of the leading British baritones of his generation. Through his celebrated interpretations of a diverse and eclectic range of roles and repertoire, he is in great demand with many prestigious theatres around the world, working with orchestras, conductors and directors of the highest calibre. He started his musical life as a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, and went on to become a member of experimental rock group Harvey and the Wallbangers.

Highlights of Christopher’s 2022/23 season include Balstrode in Peter Grimes for the Bavarian State Opera; Father-in-Law in Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence for the Royal Opera House; and his return to Zurich Opera House as Alberich in Siegfried for their third instalment of Andreas Homoki’s new Ring Cycle. On the concert platform he performs HK Gruber’s Frankenstein!! with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and Haydn’s The Creation with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra.

Recent operatic highlights have included the title role in Falstaff for Opéra National de Lyon, in a revival of the new Barrie Kosky production for the Aix-en-Provence Festival; staged performances of Handel’s Messiah for Opéra National de Lyon; Alberich in Das Rheingold for Zurich Opera House; Balstrode in Deborah Warner’s production of Peter Grimes at the Teatro Real in Madrid, conducted by Ivor Bolton; a return to the title role in Barrie Kosky’s production of Saul at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris and the Houston Grand Opera; and Mephistopheles in Richard Jones’s staging of La Damnation de Faust and Golaud in Stefan Herheim’s new production of Pelléas et Mélisande, both at the 2018 Glyndebourne Festival with the LPO under Robin Ticciati.

Jonathan Lemalu is a New Zealand-born Samoan who graduated from London’s Royal College of Music, where he is now an Honorary Fellow. A joint winner of the 2002 Kathleen Ferrier Award and recipient of the 2002 Royal Philharmonic Society’s Award for Young Artist of the Year, he has worked with conductors including Simon Rattle, Antonio Pappano, Colin Davis, Zubin Mehta, Valery Gergiev, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Vladimir Jurowski and Roger Norrington. Jonathan has recently been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to opera.

Jonathan performs at world-renowned opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House, English National Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Dallas Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opera Australia and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. He has also performed at the Salzburg Festival. His concert and recital performances span both classical and contemporary repertoire and include the Berlin, New York, Rotterdam, Hong Kong, Strasbourg and Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestras, and the New Zealand, London, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Toronto, Paris and Tokyo symphony orchestras. He made his LPO debut in January 2020 as King Sharyaati in Ravi Shankar’s opera Sukanya, conducted by David Murphy at the Southbank Centre’s Royal Festival Hall.

Highlights this season include Jonathan’s house debut as Sacristan in Tosca at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; Sarastro in The Magic Flute for Welsh National Opera; and Rocco in Fidelio with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. On the concert platform, recent and upcoming performances include Haydn’s The Seasons with the Academy of Ancient Music, and Verdi’s Requiem with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra.