Julian Close
Julian Close began his career reading for PhD in Applied Physics at the University of Leeds, before studying at the Royal Northern College of Music.
He has since appeared with major companies throughout the UK including The Royal Opera, London, English National Opera, Garsington Opera at Wormsley, Longborough Festival Opera (in roles including Don Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia and Fafner Der Ring des Nibelungen), Opera North, Saffron Opera Group (as Fasolt Das Rheingold, Hunding Die Walküre and Hagen Götterdämmerung) and Scottish Opera; as well as at the Buxton Festival; and at major concert venues such as the Barbican Centre, The Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, and the Royal Albert Hall. With the BBC Philharmonic conducted by Gianandrea Noseda, he sang Lodovico Otello.
He has enjoyed a long association with Welsh National Opera, where his engagements have included The Athlete Lulu, Osmin Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Dosifei Khovanschina, The Bonze Madama Butterfly, Angelotti Tosca and Truffaldino Ariadne auf Naxos.
In North America, he has established a long relationship with the Metropolitan Opera, New York, joining them for their productions of Fidelio, Prince Igor, Lulu (as Theatre Manager / Banker), Pelléas et Mélisande, Der Rosenkavalier, Otello, Rigoletto, Das Rheingold, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung and Tristan und Isolde. At the Dutch National Opera, he sang Theatre Manager / Banker Lulu, and he made his debut at the Teatro Colón, Buenos Aires as Baron Ochs Der Rosenkavalier.
His North American engagements have further included Ramfis Aïda for Pacific Symphony, Fafner Das Rheingold for Minnesota Opera and Fasolt Das Rheingold for both Opéra de Montréal and Washington National Opera.
His concert repertoire includes Elgar Caractacus and The Dream of Gerontius, Mahler Symphony No. 8, Mozart Requiem, Rossini Stabat Mater, Shostakovich Symphony No.14 and Verdi Requiem, as well as Stravinsky’s Les Noces with the Michael Clark Dance Company at the Barbican Centre and New York’s Lincoln Center.
Julian Close sang Hunding Die Walküre and Hagen Götterdämmerung for Longborough Festival Opera’s 2024 cycles of Der Ring des Nibelungen and will return to sing Arkel Pelléas et Mélisande in 2024.
Other recent and current engagements include Indra Le Roi de Lahore for Dorset Opera Festival, Commendatore Don Giovanni for Saffron Opera Group, Talpa Il tabarro and Simone Gianni Schicchi for Scottish Opera, Don Basilio The Barber of Seville for Bradford Opera Festival, First Soldier Salome and Sparafucile Rigoletto for Irish National Opera. He will also sing Sparafucile at The Metropolitan Oprea, New York and for Dorset Opera Festival, whilst in concert, he sings Dvorak’s Stabat Mater at the St Endellion Festival.