With his critically acclaimed debut at the prestigious 2007 Salzburg Easter Festival as Fasolt in Das Rheingold under Sir Simon Rattle, IAIN PATERSON confirmed his status as one of Europe’s leading young bass-baritones. He recently made an impressive house debut at the Metropolitan Opera singing Gunther in Götterdämmerung under James Levine. In future seasons, he will sing major roles at Houston Grand Opera, Opéra de Paris, Bayreuth Festival, Bayerische Staatsoper, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and English National Opera.

Iain Paterson studied at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and made his professional debut as Biterolf in Tannhäuser for Opera North. Operatic roles in the early part of his career included Timur in Turandot and Titurel in Parsifal for Welsh National Opera, Graf Lamoral in Arabella, Le Bret in Cyrano de Bergerac for Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Leporello for Opéra de Nancy et de Lorraine, Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Teatro Real Madrid and Glyndebourne Festival, and the title role of Le nozze di Figaro for Glyndebourne Touring Opera. As a former ENO company principal he sang Gunther in Götterdämmerung, Figaro, Foreman in Jenufa, Schaunard in La bohème and Amonasro in Aïda for the English National Opera.

Paterson sang his first Don Giovanni for Chicago Opera Theater in the 2007/08 season; the Chicago Tribune described him as “a talent to watch.” Other recent highlights include Amonasro for the Bregenz Festival, Monterone in Rigoletto and 1st Nazarene in Salome for the ROH, and Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Caen, Toulon, and Nancy. In the 2009/10 season he made his house debut at the Opéra de Paris as Fasolt in Das Rheingold under Philippe Jordan to critical acclaim. He also appeared as The Mandarin in Turandot and Monterone for the ENO and Redburn in Billy Budd in a new production by Graham Vick for the Glyndebourne Festival.

On the concert platform, Paterson sang the Shostakovich Symphony No. 13 with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra under Oleg Caetani, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra under Gianandrea Noseda at the BBC Proms and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Timur in Turandot with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin in the U.K. premiere of Luciano Berio’s completion of the score, Orest in Elektra (concert performance) under Edward Gardner, and The Dream of Gerontius under Sir Mark Elder at the Edinburgh International Festival, Verdi’s Requiem at the Royal Albert Hall, Elijah with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Paul Daniel, and Messiah with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and at Civic Opera House, Chicago.

Highlights in 2010/11 include Mephistopheles in Faust in the new production by Des McAnuff, followed by the title role in Don Giovanni (Rufus Norris production) at the ENO, Jochanaan in Salome at the Salzburg Festival and in concert with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under Simon Rattle, and a return to the Opéra de Paris as Gunther in Götterdämmerung under Philippe Jordan. Paterson will also perform Elgar’s The Kingdom under Sir Mark Elder with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican.