This Season, Welsh National Opera welcomed tenor Thomas Kinch as a 2022/2023 Associate Artist. This scheme is the perfect way for promising young performers to start their professional career, offering training and performing opportunities.
Thomas has already achieved a lot. In 2021 he was a New Generation Artist with Iford Arts, where he performed the role of Canio in Pagliacci, an 1892 opera with both libretto and music by Ruggero Leoncavallo. For this performance, Art Scene in Wales noted that Thomas ‘sang a quite remarkable Canio with emotion and strength to knock you out of your seat.’
In that same year, Thomas was also an Emerging Artist at the Institute for Young Dramatic Voices, a summer programme at the University of Nevada founded by Dolora Zajick, Rosemary Mathews and Sarah Agler. While there, he worked with mentors from the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, and Deutsche Oper Berlin.
During his time at the prestigious Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Thomas performed a number of roles including Father Grenville in Dead Man Walking, a modern American opera composed by Jake Heggie, Gerardo in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Sam Kaplan in Street Scene and Satyavan in Gustav Holst’s Savitri.
His most recent roles have included Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles with Opera Bohemia. In this 1864 work by Bizet, the character of Nadir has a particularly haunting and lyrical aria, ‘Je crois entendre encore’ (‘I still believe I hear’) which features the famous tenor high-C. Thomas also sang Alfredo in La traviata and Cavaradossi in Tosca with North Wales Opera. In May next year, he will work with renowned Italian tenor Salvatore Fisichella in Sicily.
Now at Welsh National Opera, Thomas is currently covering the role of Vitek in The Makropulos Affair. Next Spring he will also be singing 1st Armed Man in our brand-new production of The Magic Flute, directed by Daisy Evans (which includes a modern twist).
Thomas KinchBeing an Associate Artist at Welsh National Opera has been so far one of the most validating and supportive experiences I’ve ever had. I am consistently shown further what I can achieve and how far my abilities can take me through the guidance of the incredible staff at WNO. It is thrilling to be rehearsing and performing within such excellent facilities and on such a beautiful stage. It is like nothing I’ve done before. There is a clear family culture here and I feel truly accepted in that family.
If all this has impressed you, then why not come along to see Thomas perform for yourself and experience The Magic Flute, between 5 March – 27 May 2023, visiting Cardiff, Llandudno, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Bristol, Birmingham, Southampton and Plymouth.