Paul Carey Jones
(baritone)
EDUCATION AND WORK
Welsh-Irish heldenbaritone Paul Carey Jones was born in Cardiff and studied at The Queen’s College Oxford, the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio, where he was winner of the National Eisteddfod of Wales’ premier award for young singers, the W. Towyn Roberts Scholarship. In May 2013, he was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, and he was joint winner of the 2013 Wagner Society Singing Competition.
A burgeoning reputation in the three manifestations of Wotan in Wagner’s “Ring” cycle has seen him appear to critical acclaim in “Das Rheingold” (Grimeborn Festival), “Die Walküre” (Longborough Festival Opera, Gothenburg Opera, Berwick Festival) and “Siegfried” (Longborough Festival Opera, Grimeborn Festival), as well as covering all three roles for the Royal Opera House.
Paul Carey Jones has appeared as a guest principal artist for opera companies including the Royal Opera Covent Garden, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Northern Ireland Opera, Opera Holland Park, Wexford Festival Opera, The Icelandic Opera, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Rossini di Lugo and Teatro Comunale Bolzano among many others.
A committed advocate of contemporary music, he has given the world premiere performances of operas, symphonies, songs and song cycles by composers such as Stuart MacRae, John Metcalf, Jonathan Dove, Stephen McNeff, Sadie Harrison, Brian Irvine and Emily Hall. His roles in contemporary operas include Dancing Williams “Under Milk Wood” (John Metcalf), Richard Nixon “Nixon in China” (John Adams), Andy Warhol “Jackie O” (Michael Daugherty), Pacheco “Ines de Castro” (James Macmillan), Priest “The Trial” (Philip Glass), the Colonel in “Brothers” (Daniel Bjarnason), and Jaufré Rudel “L’amour de Loin” (Kaija Saariaho).
Paul Carey Jones also has an extensive experience as a concert soloist. His oratorio repertoire includes over fifty major works, and he is a recording artist appearing on the original cast recording of various contemporary operas. Paul Carey Jones was a member of the late Yehudi Menhuin’s “Live Music Now!” scheme, whose work he continues to support. He works regularly as an audition panel member, media commentator, competition adjudicator and increasingly as a teacher, coach and mentor. Recent work in these capacities has included engagements for BBC Cymru/Wales, S4C and the Bryn Terfel Scholarship, as well as webinar and podcast appearances for Orchestras Live, Opera Holland Park, and Longborough Festival Opera.
REPERTOIRE
Richard Nixon (Adams’ “Nixon in China”)
Jack the Ripper (Berg’s “Lulu”)
Sam (Bernstein’s “Trouble in Tahiti”)
Escamillo (Bizet’s “Carmen”)
The Colonel (Bjarnason’s “Brothers”)
Noye (Britten’s “Noyes Fludde”)
Andy Warhol (Daugherty’s “Jackie O”)
L’Artiste (Delius’ “Margot La Rouge”)
Malatesta (Donizetti’s “Don Pasquale”)
Gasparo (Donizetti’s “Rita”)
Eurymaque (Fauré’s “Pénélope”)
Peter (Humperdinck’s “Hänsel und Gretel”)
Forester (Janáček’s “The Cunning Little Vixen”)
Abraham (MacMillan’s “Clemency”)
Pacheco (MacMillan’s “Ines de Castro”)
David (Mascagni’s “L’amico Fritz”)
Blazes (Davies’ “The Lighthouse”)
Elisha (McNeff’s “The Burning Boy”)
Dancing Williams (Metcalf’s “Under Milk Wood”)
Don Alfonso (Mozart’s “Così fan tutte”)
Figaro (Mozart’s “Le nozze di Figaro”)
Sprecher (Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte”)
John Styx (Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld”)
Bartolo (Paisiello’s “Il barbiere di Siviglia”)
Marcello (Puccini’s “La bohème”)
Lescaut (Puccini’s “Manon Lescaut”)
Scarpia (Puccini’s “Tosa”)
Ping (Puccini’s “Turandot”)
Aeneas (Purcell’s “Dido and Aeneas”)
Envy (Purcell’s “The Indian Queen”)
Alidoro (Rossini’s “La Cenerentola”)
Jaufré Rudel (Saariaho’s “L’Amour de loin”)
Lawrence (Smyth’s “The Wreckers”)
Nick Shadow (Stravinsky’s “The Rake’s Progress”)
Billy Smith, Deputy Mayor (Turnage’s “Anna Nicole”)
Macbeth (Verdi’s “Macbeth”)
Wotan, Donner (Wagner’s “Das Rheingold”)
Wotan (Wagner’s “Die Walküre”)
Der Wanderer (Wagner’s “Siegfried”)
Gunther (Wagner’s “Götterdämmerung”)
Kothner (Wagner’s “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg”)
Biterolf (Wagner’s “Tannhäuser”)
Kurwenal (Wagner’s “Tristan und Isolde”)
First Comrade (Weill’s “Der Silbersee”)