BIO

With his commanding stage presence, versatile voice and acting skills, Dutch baritone Peter Bording is equally in demand across opera, operetta, musical theatre, and contemporary music.

 

His repertoire ranges from Mozart roles such as Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), Guglielmo (Cosí fan tutte), and Count Almaviva (Le nozze di Figaro) to dramatic roles like Scarpia (Tosca), Tonio (Pagliacci), and Rigoletto.
He has performed the title roles in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Pelléas et Mélisande at venues including the Wiener Festwochen, the Staatsoper Stuttgart, the Staatsoper Hannover, the Dutch Touring Opera, the Aalto-Musiktheater Essen, and the Oper Graz. His portrayal of Pelléas earned him a nomination for “Singer of the Year” by Opernwelt.
 

He is widely recognized as an outstanding interpreter of Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus) and Danilo (Die lustige Witwe) - roles he has performed in over 25 productions worldwide. He stars in Barrie Kosky’s productions of Orpheus in the Underworld, Die Perlen der Cleopatra, Kiss Me, Kate, La Cage aux folles, and the European premiere of Kálmán’s Broadway musical Marinka.

He originated the role of Antonio in the Kanyar/Fassbaender-musical Shylock and performed in the Austrian premieres of Korngold’s Die stumme Serenade as Andrea Coclé for the MusikTheater an der Wien and of Marinka at Oper Graz, reprising his performance as Joseph Bratfisch.

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Dedicated to contemporary music, he has created leading roles in world premieres of Eötvös’ Lady Sarashina, Jarrell’s Galilée, and Bagwathi’s Ramanujan in Paris, Lyon, Geneva, and at the Munich Biennale.
He has appeared at the Bregenzer Festspiele in Kurt Weill’s Der Protagonist and Royal Palace and at the Richard Strauss Festival as Da-Ud in Die ägyptische Helena and excels in rarely performed works, as Werner Egk’s Peer Gynt, in the title role in Gottfried von Einem’s Dantons Tod, and as John Proctor in Robert Ward’s The Crucible.
 

As a concert singer, his repertoire includes Bach’s St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. He made his U.S. debut in the St. Matthew Passion at the DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C.

 

A regular guest at the Komische Oper Berlin, Peter Bording has performed at renowned opera and concert venues, including the Bregenzer Festspiele, the Wiener Festwochen, the Munich Biennale, the MusikTheater an der Wien, the Opéra national de Paris, the Opéra Comique Paris, the Opéra de Lyon, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Hungarian State Opera, the Polish National Opera, the Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre, the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, the Staatsoper Stuttgart, Staatsoper Hannover, and many other theatres across Europe, Japan, and the United States.
He was the principal lyric baritone at Staatstheater Braunschweig (1995-1997), Staatstheater Darmstadt (1997-2000), and the Aalto-Musiktheater Essen (2000-2011). In 2015, he returned to Staatstheater Braunschweig with a residency contract, where he gradually expanded his repertoire.

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He has collaborated with renowned conductors such as Marc Albrecht, Philippe Auguin, Peter Eötvös, Adam Fischer, Yakov Kreizberg, Mstislav Rostropovich, Stefan Soltesz, Lothar Zagrosek, and Koen Schoots, as well as distinguished directors including Barrie Kosky, Dietrich W. Hilsdorf, Johannes Schaaf, Nicolas Brieger, Brigitte Fassbaender, Frank van Laecke and Ushio Amagatsu.

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His current engagements include Jupiter (Orpheus in der Unterwelt) at the Komische Oper Berlin and the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, as well as Pluto in a new production at the Lehár Festival Bad Ischl. He will also return to the Komische Oper Berlin as Georges in La Cage aux folles and as Achill in Die schöne Helena.

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Peter Bording received his vocal and theatrical training with Jan Handerson, at the Sweelinck Conservatorium Amsterdam and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in London.