Grange Park Opera

Since winning the inaugural Seattle Opera International Wagner competition in 2006, James Rutherford has become renowned for his interpretations of German romantic opera.

With “his rich and booming voice and nuanced acting” (Bachtrack), his celebrated Wagner roles have taken him to the world’s leading operatic stages. He has performed Hans Sachs Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for houses including the Bayreuth Festival, Wiener Staatsoper, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Oper Köln, San Francisco Opera, Budapest Wagner Festival and Glyndebourne Festival; Wolfram Tannhäuser for San Francisco Opera and Deutsche Oper Berlin; the title role in Der Fliegende Holländer for the Budapest Wagner Festival, Oper Frankfurt and Oper Stuttgart as well as Kurwenal Tristan und Isolde for Washington National Opera.

James continues to sing his core repertoire in the 24/25 season, where his roles include Giorgio Germont La traviata for the Semperoper Dresden and Oper Graz, Der Wanderer Siegfried for Oper Leipzig, and Der Holländer Der Fliegender Holländer for the Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper am Rhein and Oper im Steinbruch. Future seasons see him make a long-awaited debut with Grange Park Opera to sing Wotan in a new Ring cycle.

His recent operatic roles have included Der Holländer Der Fliegender Holländer for Oper Leipzig, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, and Oper Köln; Hans Sachs Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for Oper Leipzig and Lawrence The Wreckers for the Glyndebourne Festival. Recent highlights on the concert stage have included Rocco Fidelio on tour with the LA Philharmonic under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel; Gunther in act III of Götterdämmerung with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Andris Nelsons; a semi-staged performance of The Wreckers at the BBC Proms, and St John Passion with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment/Stephen Layton.