American baritone Thomas Lehman is a member of the Ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and a graduate of the Eastman School of Music.
In the 2024–25 season, Thomas will make his debuts at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as The Father in Hänsel und Gretel conducted by Giedrė Šlekytė; at Detroit Opera as Guglielmo in a new production of Così fan tutte directed by Yuval Sharon; and at the Staatsoper Hamburg where he will create the central role of Dr. Keiron in the world premiere of Unsuk Chin’s Die dunkle Seite des Mondes conducted by Kent Nagano and directed by Dead Centre. While at the Deutsche Oper Berlin he will sing the title role in a new production of Verdi’s Macbeth conducted by Enrique Mazzola, and he will make role debuts as Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde and Wolfram in his first staged performance of Tannhäuser.
Last season, Thomas made his role debut as Wolfram in a concert performance of Tannhäuser at the Edinburgh International Festival conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles. He also made his debut at San Francisco Opera as Heerufer in David Alden’s production of Lohengrin, where he was nominated in their Emerging Stars Competition. While at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, he made role debuts—in new productions—as Yeletsky in Pique Dame and in the title role of Nixon in China.
On the concert platform he made his debut with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra performing Carmina Burana at the Opening Concert of the Edinburgh International Festival in 2022, and he returns to the piece this season with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra and Stéphane Denève. Thomas recently made his debut with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra as Donner in Das Rheingold in Paris, Rotterdam, Dortmund, and Baden-Baden, conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
His recent Deutsche Oper Berlin appearances include Gunther in a new production of Götterdämmerung directed by Stefan Herheim, Lucifer in a new production of Antikrist directed by Ersan Mondtag, and Guy de Montfort in Les vêpres siciliennes conducted by Enrique Mazzola and directed by Olivier Py. This season he will make role debuts as Germont in La traviata and Don Fernando in a new production of Fidelio directed by David Hermann. Other recent appearances in Berlin include Lescaut in Manon Lescaut conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, Ford in Falstaff, Marcello in La bohème, Renato in Un ballo in maschera, Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Conte Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Valentin in Faust, and Silvio in Pagliacci.
Recent guest engagements have included Ford in Barrie Kosky’s production of Falstaff at the Komische Oper Berlin, Ibn-Hakia in a new production of Iolanta in Bern, Conte Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro for Theater Basel, Lescaut in Manon Lescaut at the Edinburgh International Festival, Silvio in Pagliacci for the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, and Hindley Earnshaw in Wuthering Heights for the Opéra national de Lorraine.
photo credit: Renee Dee