“Best of all was Michael Mofidian as Nick Shadow. The power and seductive beauty of his voice were remarkable: in short, he inhabited the role completely, a Don Giovanni de luxe in the making.” Opera Magazine
Praised by The Times for his ‘immense, dark-hued voice that’s even-toned from top to (very deep) bottom’ and compared by a number of critics to Samuel Ramey, Michael Mofidian is increasingly in demand in opera, concert and recital.
Opera highlights this season include the title roles of Il Turco in Italia for Glyndebourne and of Le Nozze di Figaro for Welsh National Opera, as well as Masetto (Don Giovanni) in a new production at the Bayerische Staatsoper conducted by Vladimir Jurowsky. In concert he performs Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Handel’s Messiah and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle. Roles in future seasons include Creon (Œdipus rex), Leporello (Don Giovanni) and Osmin (Die Entführung aus dem Serail).
In the 2023/24 season he made his début at the Teatro Real, Madrid as Créon (Medea), returned to Covent Garden as Colline (La Bohème) and Der Pfleger des Orest (Elektra), and made highly-acclaimed role débuts as Polyphemus (Acis and Galatea) for the Potsdamer Winteroper and as Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress) at the Grange Festival. In concert he performed Tippett’s A Child of Our Time with the RSNO at the Edinburgh International Festival under Sir Andrew Davis, Haydn’s Creation with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Edward Gardner and Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.
Having made his début at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro in the Cantata in onore del sommo pontifice Pio IX in 2023, he was invited back for the 2024 Festival for the roles of Fenicio (Ermione) and Lord Sidney (Il Viaggio a Reims).
His operatic engagements in previous seasons include returns to Covent Garden as Colline (2022) and Masetto (2021), his Scottish Opera début as Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte), his début at the Opéra de Rouen as Theseus (A Midsummer Night’s Dream), a return to the Glyndebourne Festival as Masetto while also covering Leporello, and, at the Salzburg Festival, Angelotti (Tosca) and Kuligin (Kat’a Kabanová) under the respective bâtons of Marco Armiliato and Jakub Hruša.
From 2018-2020 he was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artists’ Programme at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, performing many roles under conductors such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Sir Antonio Pappano and Edward Gardner and working with directors including Sir David McVicar, Christof Loy and Barrie Kosky. He was a Jerwood Young Artist at Glyndebourne in 2018 and a member of the Jeune Ensemble at the Grand Théâtre de Genève in the 2021/22 season.
He was soloist at the First Night of the BBC Proms in 2021 with the BBC Symphony Orchestra under Dalia Stasevska, and returned in 2023 for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under Ryan Wigglesworth.
He also made his début with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome as the Mandarin in a concert performance and CD recording of Turandot under Sir Antonio Pappano for Warner Classics.
In recital, he has performed with pianists Keval Shah, Jâms Coleman, Sholto Kynoch, Anna Tilbrook, Julius Drake and Malcolm Martineau with numerous performances at the Wigmore Hall, the Queen’s Hall in Edinburgh, City Halls Glasgow and at the Oxford Lieder and Leeds Lieder festivals. He has been broadcast numerous times on BBC Radio 3.
In addition to singing he is also a composer who has written orchestral works, chamber music, songs and pieces for vocal ensemble.
He was born in Glasgow and graduated from the University of Cambridge and the Royal Academy of Music, where he was awarded the Pavarotti Prize in 2017. In 2018 he won the Singers’ Prize in the Royal Over-Seas League Competition and the Bruce Millar Gulliver Prize. He is bilingual in French and English.
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The Rake's Progress (Nick Shadow)
The Grange Festival, June 2024
Michael Mofidian's Shadow shines in Antony McDonald's brilliant Rake's Progress at The Grange Festival:
The idyll is broken with the arrival of the Mephistophelian Nick Shadow, in the person of Michael Mofidian, dressed and bewigged in black, who sports a voice with a timbre of diamantine jet. Indeed I can’t remember a Nick Shadow - not Terfel, nor Gerald Finley - so ideally suited vocally to this devilish role. Initially, at least, he’s quite a charmer, an actor in conspiratorial rapport with his audience, who seduces us as well as Tom with his sardonic laid-back manner and elegant, athletic figure.
If Mofidian’s Shadow - terrifying in the card scene, set in what looks like an early railway tunnel (or is it a sewer?) - is this production’s primus inter pares, he is the star of a cast without a weak link.
Hugh Canning, Operalouge
Michael Mofidian is a wonderfully devilish presence.
Rebecca Franks, The Times
As ultra-baddie Nick Shadow, Michael Mofidian was persuasive, his bass-baritone immense and sumptuous.
Flora Willson, The Guardian
... from the moment Michael Mofidian came on stage as Nick, there was only going to be one winner. Mofidian has a huge voice, a combination of youthfulness and steel rare in a bass-baritone. To that voice, he added a stage swagger that was supremely confident whether faux-ingratiating or just plain malevolent.
David Karlin, Bachtrack
The third member of the central trio is bass-baritone Michael Mofidian as Nick Shadow, who never overplays the devilish nature of the sinister tempter, his charm and humour registering as well as his menace.
George Hall, The Stage
Best of all was Michael Mofidian as Nick Shadow. The power and seductive beauty of his voice were remarkable: in short, he inhabited the role completely, a Don Giovanni de luxe in the making.
Roger Parker, Opera Magazine
Créon, Médée
Teatro Real, Madrid, September 2023
Michael Mofidian was a noble-voiced Créon.
Victoria Stapells, Opera Magazine
Don Giovanni
Glyndebourne Festival, May 2023
In a cast whose youth makes sense of the sex-driven fable, these eye-catching rising artists are joined by other fresh faces, including the very impressive Royal Opera-trained bass Michael Mofidian as bridegroom Masetto
Claudia Pritchard, Culture Whisper
St Johns Passion Bach
Barbican 7 April 2023
“The mahogany darkness of Michael Mofidian’s bass ensured that this Christ had an implacable presence, his words imbued with conviction and truth.”
Claire Seymore, Opera Today
Messiah
Dunedin Consort, Scottish Tour, December 2022
Bass-baritone Michael Mofidian’s splendidly muscular deep voice brought character, truly “shaking the nations” with a darkness as black as ink. A powerfully lyrical “The trumpet shall sound” was a highlight, Paul Sharp’s note-perfect trumpet blending impeccably.
David Smythe, Bachtrack
La Bohème (Colline)
Royal Opera House Covent Garden, October 2022
promising bass Michael Mofidian sings Colline’s short aria bidding farewell to his winter coat with a simple dignity
Richard Fairman, The Financial Times
Michael Mofidian's grandly sung Colline [...] completed a coherent quartet
George Hall, Opera Magazine
Le Maire (Jenůfa )
Grand-Théâtre de Genève, May 2022
Michael Mofidian et Céline Kot personnifient dignement le maire du village et sa femme.
Michael Mofidian and Céline Kot interpret the village's mayor and his wife with dignity.
Paul-Andre Demierre, Crescendo Magazine
"les voix belles et timbrées de [...] Michael Mofidian (le maire)"
The beautiful and warmly coloured voices of [...] Michael Mofidian (the mayor)
Charles Sigel, Forum Opera
On notera les prestations remarquées même si de courtes durées [...] de la basse Michael Modifian (le maire du village) dont le charme vocal ne cesse de nous plaire.
One particularly notices the short but significant performances [...] of bass, Michael Mofidian (the village mayor), whose vocal charm pleases us to no end.
Jacques Schmitt, Resmusica
LULLY Atys, Idas & Phobétor
Geneva Grand Theatre, Jeune Ensemble (March 2022)
Michael Mofidian (Idas / Phobétor) donne un charme particulier à la scène du sommeil d’Atys par son timbre profond et noir, son legato et sa longueur de souffle, apportant une noblesse à ses quelques phrases.
Michael Mofidian (Idas / Phobétor) gives a special charm to Atys' sleep scene with its deep, black timbre, legato and breath length, bringing nobility to his few sentences.
CJM, Olyrix
Parmi les autres rôles, on ne peut passer sous silence le baryton-basse Michael Mofidian (Idas/Phobétor/Un songe funeste) dont la voix profonde chargée d’harmoniques, timbrée à souhait, parfaitement conduite, la diction impeccable rappelle, dans un tout autre registre, l’admirable Samuel Ramey dont les murs de l’institution lyrique genevoise vibrent encore d’un souvenir vivace.
Among the other roles, we cannot ignore the bass-baritone Michael Mofidian (Idas/Phobétor/Un songe fatale) whose deep voice charged with harmonics, stamped at will, perfectly conducted, the impeccable diction recalls, in a completely different register, the admirable Samuel Ramey whose walls of the Geneva opera still vibrate with a vivid memory.
Jacques Schmitt, Res Musica
Bizet Les Pêcheurs de perles, Nourabad
Geneva Grand Theatre, Jeune Ensemble (December 2021)
De son côté, Michael Mofidian se révèle le plus intéressant des personnages, bien que le moins exposé de la distribution. Son Nourabad rayonne naturellement, avec solidité, sur une remarquable voix sombre. Comme ses collègues masculins de plateau, le Britannique offre une articulation et une diction claires, qui rendent le texte intelligible sans avoir à consulter les surtitres, ce qui n’est pas rien.
For his part, Michael Mofidian is the most interesting of the characters, although the least exposed of the cast. His Nourabad radiates naturally, with solidity, on a remarkable dark voice. Like his male set colleagues, the Briton offers a clear articulation and diction, which makes the text intelligible without having to consult the surtitles, which is not nothing.
Sylvie Bonier, Le Temps
…l’impeccable Michael Mofidian aux graves de bronzes dans “Sombres divinités”.
…the impeccable Michael Mofidian with bronze bass in "Dark Deities".
Charles Sigel, Forum Opera
On signalera aussi la belle prestation de Michael Mofidian en Nourabad aux graves percutants.
We will also mention the beautiful performance of Michael Mofidian in Nourabad with striking bass.
Claudio Poloni, Concerto Net
A ses côtés, la basse britannique Michael Mofidian (Nourabad) fait aussi preuve d’une belle tenue vocale ainsi que d’une impeccable prononciation de la langue française.
At his side, the British bass Michael Mofidian (Nourabad) also shows a beautiful vocal hold as well as an impeccable pronunciation of the French language.
Jacques Schmitt, Res Musica
Le quatuor vocal met en valeur l’élégant baryton-basse Michael Mofidian…
The vocal quartet showcases elegant bass-baritone Michael Mofidian…
Vincent Borel, Concert Classic
Charming, spry Michael Mofidian sounded fantastic as Nourabad, and brought lightness and good humour to every scene he was in.
Elodie Olson-Coons, Bachtrack
Michael Mofidian's Nourabad possesses the authority and peremptory declamation of the high priest.
Paul-André Demierre, Crescendo Magazine
Donizetti's Anna Bolena, Lord Rochefort
Geneva Grand Theatre, Jeune Ensemble (October 2021)
…bass-baritone Michael Mofidian (Lord Rochefort), the Grand Théâtre de Genève integrates a very beautiful voice into its Jeune Ensemble.
Jacques Schmitt, Res Musica
In Lord Rochefort, the Scotser Michael Mofidian also manages to exist fully, with his robust bass-baritone instrument and this ability to fully enter the role of a bruised brother, ready, remaining proud and standing, to face death.
Pierre Géraudie, Olyrix
Michael Mofidian Repertoire
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