Long recognized as one of the most innovative musicians of our time, American baritone Thomas Hampson has received countless international honors for his singular artistry and cultural leadership. His operatic repertoire comprises more than 80 roles, and his discography includes more than 170 albums, with multiple nominations and wins of the GRAMMY Award, Edison Award, and the Grand Prix du Disque.
This season, Hampson sings the title role in Adam’s Nixon in China at the Paris Opera under the baton of Kent Nagano, returning to the role later in the season to sing excerpts from the opera with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons at Boston Symphony Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Tanglewood Festival. He will also appear with the BSO and Nelsons as The Old Doctor in Barber’s Vanessa and concludes 2025 with a star-studded Christmas Night Opera Gala at Carnegie Hall, with Francesco Lanzillotta.
Further appearances on the concert stage include Hampson joining the NHK Symphony Orchestra and Ryan Bancroft for Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn. He sings Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra led by Fabio Luisi and appears with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the Essen Philharmonic, both led by Daniel Hope. Following their highly successful tour last season at venues such as Het Concertgebouw, Konzert Theater Coesfeld, and Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Hampson returns to Europe for a second tour of Schubert’s Winterreise with accordionist Ksenija Sidorova at Verbier Festival, Bergen Festival, Kings Place London, and Tonhalle Zürich. He resumes his collaboration with pianist Wolfram Rieger, with a program of Mahler’s lieder on tour in China at the Shenzhen Belt Road Festival, the Macau Festival, and Changsha Concerto Hall; the duo will also perform Winterreise at Baden-Baden Festspiele Haus. Later in the season, Hampson appears at Aspen Music Festival for an all-American program.
Last season, Hampson directed and sang Don Alfonso in a concert performance of Mozart’s Così fan tutte with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal. He also starred in Barber’s Vanessa with the National Symphony Orchestra, joined a special concert celebrating American works with Renée Fleming and Denyce Graves, and starred as Bishop Edward Vergerus in Mikael Karlsson’s new opera based on Ingmar Bergman’s Fanny and Alexander at La Monnaie. His concert schedule featured collaborations with the MDR Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Baden-Baden Philharmonic, the Würth Philharmonic Orchestra, and many others. Hampson also served as Distinguished Visiting Artist in Residence at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
He is an honorary professor of Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg and an honorary member of London’s Royal Academy of Music. In addition to several Honorary Doctorates, he is the Kammersänger of the Wiener Staatsoper and Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the Republic of France, and an Honorary Artist of the Guangzhou Opera House. In 2017 he received the Hugo Wolf Medal, together with Wolfram Rieger. He is the co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Lied Academy Heidelberg, in 2003, he founded the Hampsong Foundation, through which he uses the art of song to promote intercultural dialogue and understanding. His international master class schedule is a continuing online resource of Medici.tv, the Manhattan School of Music, and The Hampsong Foundation livestream channel. Additionally, he serves as an Advisor for Opera for Peace.
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