© Gerald Place

Quentin Hayes studied at Dartington Arts College, at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at the National Opera Studio on a Countess of Munster Scholarship. In 1992 he was winner of the VARA Dutch Radio Prize at the Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna. He is currently a Principal Baritone at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, a post which he leaves at the end of this season.

His concert experience is diverse, from Purcell's 'Ode for St Cecilia's Day' in St Petersburg and 'Come, Ye Sons of Art' with Philippe Herreweghe in Lyon to Finzi's 'In Terra Pax' in Rio de Janeiro, Dvorak's 'Requiem' in Valencia, Brahms' 'Requiem' with the RSNO in Edinburgh and 'Messiah' in Trondheim.

Operatic roles include Papageno/'Magic Flute', Ford/'Falstaff', Marcel Proust/'Life with and Idiot' and Kuligin/'Katya Kabanova' for English National and Scottish Opera. For the Royal Opera House he has sung Ping/'Turandot', Schaunard/'La Bohème', Nachtigall/'Die Meistersingers', Fourth Master/'Palestrina', Agravain/'Gawain and the Green Knight', Angelotti/'Tosca', Novice's Friend/'Billy Budd' and Marullo/'Rigoletto'. He also sang Angelotti and Donald/'Billy Budd' for Scottish Opera. With Glyndebourne Touring Opera he sang Figaro/'Barber of Seville', a role he has also performed with the Oper am Rhein, Garsington and Grange Park. For Welsh National Opera he sang Small Convict/'From the House of the Dead', as well as for Frankfurt Oper. He sang Count Almaviva/'Figaro's Wedding' for Grange Park Opera, Allazim/'Zaïde' and Masetto/'La Vera Costanza' for Opera Theatre Company Dublin.

Recently he has appeared at the Barbican with the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Richard Hickox, singing Donald in 'Billy Budd' and is a regular performer at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, including Junius/'Rape of Lucretia', Frère Leon/'St François d'Assise', Captain of the Guard/'The Bassarids' and in the Britten War Requiem. He also sang Private Willis/'Iolanthe' for the CBSO and Clavaroche/'Fortunio' with Harry Christopher at Grange Park Opera.

He has made a number of CDs, including Britten's 'Billy Budd' with Hickox (Chandos) and 'Rejoice in the Lamb' (Hyperion); Turnage's 'Greek' (Decca Argo), Wallace's 'Maritana' (Naxos) and 'Where the Wild Things Are' with Knussen and the London Sinfonietta (Deutsche Grammophon). He appears regularly for the BBC, both radio and TV, most recently as The Traveller/'Curlew River' for BBC Wales and in Wallace's 'Kaddish for Harvey Milk' for Radio3 with the BBC Symphony. Other Radio3 performances are as White Abbot in Maxwell Davies' 'Taverner' and Mercury in Pepusch's 'Death of Dido'

Recent and forthcoming performances include Le Dancaire/'Carmen' at Glyndebourne, Ping/'Turandot', Herald/'Lohengrin', Larry Landau/'Sophie's Choice' (with Sir Simon Rattle), Ned Keene/’Peter Grimes’ at the Royal Opera, and 'Where the Wild Things Are' with the Berlin Philharmonic. In the autumn last year he sang again at Scottish Opera and returns to the Royal Opera as Ping in 2005. He has also sung Elijah recently with the Netherlands Radio Symphony in two concerts in Utrecht and appeared with the CBSO/Oramo in September last year.

January 2005