Miklós Sebestyén was born in Budapest in 1979. After enjoying initial success at the Belvedere Singing Competition in Vienna, he got the chance to appear in major opera houses such as New York's Metropolitan Opera, Milan's La Scala, London’s Covent Garden, Cardiff's Welsh National Opera, Madrid's Teatro Real, Oslo Royal Opera, Copenhagen Royal Opera, Oper Zürich, Bavarian State Opera Munich, Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Theater an der Wien, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Komische Oper in Berlin, Bregenzer Festspiele.
His principal roles include Bluebeard Bluebeard’s Castle, Figaro Le Nozze di Figaro, Leporello and the Commendatore Don Giovanni, Sarastro Die Zauberflöte, Don Alfonso Così fan tutte, Pizzarro Fidelio, Seneca L’incoronazione di Poppea, Don Magnifico La cenerentola, Mustafà L'italiana in Algeri, Mosè Mosè in Egitto, Vodnik Rusalka, Dosifej Khovanshchina, Enrico VIII Anna Bolena, Prince Gremin Eugene Onegin, Colline La bohème, Timur Turandot, Padre Guardiano La forza del destino, Sparafucile Rigoletto, Banquo Macbeth, Kothner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, King Marke Tristan und Isolde, Celio The Love for Three Oranges
Future roles in this coming season include Bartolo Il barbiere di Siviglia, The King of Egypt Aida at Hungarian State Opera and Ariodate Xerxes at Opernhaus Zurich.
He has had great success as a concert singer as well with oratorios of Haydn, Bach, Mozart, and Bartók. Over the course of his career, he has worked with great conductors such as Riccardo Chailly, Carlo Rizzi, Adam Fischer, Fabio Luisi, Lorin Maazel, Julia Jones, Ulf Schirmer.
His discography includes recordings of Verdi’s I due Foscari and I Lombardi alla prima Crociata with the Munich Radio Orchestra (released on BR Klasik) and Blu-ray recordings of Rigoletto and Boito’s Nerone at the Bregenz Festival.
This biography is for information only and should not be reproduced.
Xerxes (Ariodate)
Opernhaus Zürich, September 2024
"Miklos Sebestyén brought elegance to the role with a secure and resonant bass."
Laura Servidei, Bachtrack
Tristan und Isolde (King Marke)
Festival de Teatro Lírico Español Teatro Campoamor, 2024
Sebestyén delivered exquisite lines with a strong vocal presence and rich in nuances.”
David Santana, codalario.com
Bluebeard's Castle (Title Role)
Dresden Philharmonic, 2022
"Miklos Sebestyen is a calculating, warm and grandly imposing Bluebeard baritone, in whom one recognises the great role models such as Laszlo Polgar."
Alexander Keuk, DNN
L'incoronazione di Poppea (Seneca)
Opernhaus Zürich, 2021
“Miklós Sebestyén sang Seneca with a deep bass which exuded authority and charisma; his death scene was one of the few moving moments.”
Laura Servidei, Bachtrack
"The bass-baritone Miklos Sebestyén gives an outstanding performance as Nero's counsellor (and conscience) Seneca. His voice has a wonderful, warm flowing, unagitated, considered, dreamlike phrasing and thus radiates the required calm of the recognised stoic."
Kaspar Sannemann, oper-aktuell.info
"Miklos Sebestyén embodied an admonishing, then pensive and finally touching Seneca bidding farewell to life with a velvety bass that seemed almost contemplative for this role - a great portrayal of such an important character in the drama."
Klaus Billand, onlinemerker.com
La Cenerentola (Don Magnifico)
Royal Opera Copenhagen
“The Hungarian bass Miklós Sebestyén was wonderful as Rossini, soon transforming into the foolish Don Magnifico, mighty as a pale-fat Sun King, and surprisingly articulate in the repetitions in the Rossinian crescendo.”
Valdemar Lønsted, information.dk
“With his musical quill pen, he directs the action but quickly transforms into Cinderella's vain fool of a father. And with buffo bass Miklós Sebestyén in the role, he is certainly worth listening to.”
Thomas Michelsen, Politiken.dk
La forza del destino (Padre Guardiano & Marquess of Calatrava)
Welsh National Opera, 2018
“…both he and the self-flagellating Padre Guardiano are sung – with heft and presence – by Miklós Sebestyén”
Steph Power -- The Independent
“Padre Guardiano (it was an excellent idea to cast the same singer — Miklos Sebestyen, sounding even more than usually noble — as her father too)"
Richard Bratby, The Spectator
Chovanshchina (Dosifei)
Welsh National Opera, 2017
“it is the dignified authority of Miklós Sebestyén's performance as the believers' leader, Dosifei, that helps carry the evening”
Rian Evans, The Guardian
Mosé in Egitto (Title Role)
Welsh National Opera, 2014
“Sebestyen certainly had the physique du role, looking very much the Old Testament prophet and he brought the same level of authority to Mose’s series of prayers and imprecations. Mose does not take part in the opera seria shenanigins, he simply appears and disappears, spending his time either praying to God or hurling abuse at the Egyptians. This Sebestyen did extremely well (I am sure he is a highly sophisticated singer and capable of far more in other roles!), and topped a fine performance with his lovely opening of the famous prayer in act three.”
Robert Hugill, Operatoday.com
“As performed by the Hungarian bass Miklós Sebestyén, Mosè was a commanding figure with an exceptionally strong, lyrical bass voice (wholly different from the buffo bass we often associate with Rossini)”
Simon Rees, Bachtrack
Don Giovanni (Commendatore)
Welsh National Opera, 2016
Miklós Sebestyén’s Commendatore plunged us into the dark with his glowering instrument.
Benjamin Poore, Bachtrack
Miklós Sebestyén's Concert and Oratorio Repertoire
| Bach | Johannes-Passion Matthäus-Passion Christmas Oratorio Easter Oratorio Mass in B-Minor Magnificat Cantata “Ich habe genung” |
|---|---|
| Bartók | Cantata Profana |
| Beethoven | An die ferne Geliebte Missa Solemnis Symphony no. 9 |
| Brahms | Vier ernste Gesänge |
| Dvorák | Stabat Mater |
| Fauré | Requiem |
| Gounod | Messe solennelle de Ste. Cécile |
| Handel | Messiah Alexander's Feast |
| Haydn | The Creation The Seasons Nicolaimesse Nelsonmesse |
| Kodály | Te deum |
| Liszt | Christus |
| Mendelssohn | Die erste Walpurgisnacht |
| Mozart | Spatzenmesse C-Moll Messe D-Dur Missa Brevis Alma dei creatoris Requiem |
| Mussorgsky | Songs and Dances of Death |
| Rossini | Petite Messe Solennelle Stabat Mater |
| Schubert | Mass in G major |
| Stravinsky | Les noces |
| Verdi | Requiem |
| Wolf | Michelangelo-Lieder |
Miklós Sebestyén's Opera Repertoire
| Bartók | Title Role, Bluebeard's Castle |
|---|---|
| Berlioz | Somarone, Béatrice et Bénedict |
| Bizet | Escamillo, Carmen |
| Boito | Tigellino, Nerone |
| Délibes | Nilakantha, Lakmé |
| Donizetti | Enrico, Anna Bolena |
| Dvorak | Vodnik, Rusalka |
| Handel | Ariodate, Xerxes Ercole, Admeto |
| Monteverdi | Seneca, L’Incoronazione di Poppea |
| Mozart | Osmin, Die Entführung aus dem Serail Figaro / Bartolo, Le nozze di Figaro Leporello / Commendatore / Masetto, Don Giovanni Sarastro, Sprecher, Papageno, The Magic Flute Publio, La clemenza di Tito |
| Mussorgskky | Dosifei, Chovanshchina |
| Prokofiev | Wizard Celio, The Love of Three Oranges |
| Puccini | Colline, La bohéme Timur, Turandot Geronte di Ravoir, Manon Lescaut |
| Rachmaninoff | Old Man, Aleko |
| Rossini | Don Magnifico, La Cenerentola Don Bartolo, Il barbiere di Siviglia Mustapha, L'italiana in Algeri Title Role, Mosé in Egitto Tobia Mill, La cambiale di matrimonio |
| Schönberg | Priest, Moses and Aron |
| Strauss | 1. Nazarener, Salome |
| Stravinsky | Truelove, The Rake's Progress |
| Tchaikovsky | Prince Gremin, Eugene Onegin |
| Verdi | Sparafucile, Rigoletto Padre Guardiano / Marquese Calatrava, La forza del destino Banco, Macbeth The King of Egypt, Aida Un Frate, Don Carlos Pirro, I Lombardi alla prima crociata Pistola, Falstaff |
| Wagner | King Marke, Tristan und Isolde Kothner / Hans Foltz, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg Daland, Der fliegende Holländer Stefanno Colonna, Rienzi |
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