Singer
British bass, in opera, oratorio and recital
Nicholas Warden is a British bass whose repertoire runs from Monteverdi, Purcell and Handel through Mozart and Mendelssohn to Elgar, Britten and new music. He has worked throughout Europe with conductors including Emmanuelle Haïm, Sir Simon Rattle, Sir Colin Davis, Sakari Oramo, Harry Christophers, Martyn Brabbins, Sian Edwards and Gary Cooper.
Now based in Copenhagen, Nicholas is available for solo engagements in opera, oratorio and recital across Scandinavia, the UK and further afield.
Training
BA in Music from Durham University, where he was a choral scholar at Durham Cathedral from 1995 to 1997, followed by the Royal Academy of Music, studying with Mark Wildman. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music (ARAM) in 2007.
Career highlights
Zoroastro in Handel's Orlando at Wigmore Hall and for Independent Opera at Sadler's Wells. Scarpia in Tosca for Surrey Opera at the Minack Theatre. Superintendent Budd in Albert Herring in Antwerp, Bruges and Ghent. With Le Concert d'Astrée under Emmanuelle Haïm, Un Songe in Rameau's Dardanus (Lille, Caen, Dijon) and Winter and Sleep in Purcell's The Fairy Queen (Lille, Amsterdam, Ghent). Appearances with Scottish Opera, at the Buxton Festival and at the Potsdam Festival with the Akademie für Alte Musik, and the world premiere of Cattin's Et si Bacon… in Switzerland.
Concert and recital
Haydn's Creation at Cadogan Hall, Beethoven's Missa Solemnis at the Barbican, Verdi's Requiem in Winchester Cathedral and Handel's Orlando at Wigmore Hall. A recommended artist of the National Federation of Music Societies, he has sung with choirs and choral societies throughout the UK.
Ensemble and recording
Concert tours with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle as a member of European Voices, including Così fan tutte and Idomeneo at the Salzburg Easter Festival. Work with The Sixteen, The King's Consort and the Choir of the Enlightenment, and film soundtracks with London Voices, including Star Wars with the London Symphony Orchestra and John Williams. From 2002 to 2010 he was a regular member of the choir of St Clement Danes in London, the church in Westminster whose name by tradition recalls the Danes who settled just outside the City of London, where they were not permitted to live.
Press
“Nicholas Warden's rich and agile bass left no doubt as to his authority.” Opera Now
Repertoire
Opera roles include Scarpia (Tosca), Escamillo (Carmen), Leporello and Masetto (Don Giovanni), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), Mustafà (L'italiana in Algeri), Zoroastro (Orlando), Polyphemus (Acis and Galatea), Ariodates (Xerxes), Mr Noye (Noye's Fludde) and Superintendent Budd (Albert Herring). [Oratorio and song repertoire to add.]
Recordings and video
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