James Creswell
Bass singer James Creswell was born in Seattle, Washington. He studied at Yale University, and his early career included apprenticeships with Los Angeles Opera and San Francisco Opera, before he moved to Germany as a soloist with the Komische Oper Berlin.
In the 2025/26 Season, he performs the roles of Bartolo Le nozze di Figaro (Opéra national de Paris), Swallow Peter Grimes (Opera North), and Daland The Flying Dutchman (WNO).
James has also appeared at the Metropolitan Opera, Dutch National Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, Bilbao Opera, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Staatsoper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, Theater an der Wien, ENO, Edinburgh International Festival, Nederlandse Reisopera, Tallinn Festival, Ravinia Festival and Bergen International Festival.
His repertoire of operatic roles includes: The Dutchman and Daland Der fliegende Holländer; Hunding Die Walkure; Fasolt Das Rheingold; King Marke Tristan und Isolde; A Blind Ballad Singer Gloriana; Achilla Giulio Cesare; Figaro and Dr. Bartolo Le nozze di Figaro; Commendatore, Masetto and Leporello Don Giovanni; Speaker and Sarastro Die Zauberflöte; Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia; Oroveso Norma; Count Walther and Wurm Luisa Miller; Ferrando Il trovatore; King Aida; Méphistophélès Faust; Frere Laurent and Capulet Roméo et Juliette; Gremin Eugene Onegin; Escamillo Carmen; Compte des Grieux Manon; Phorbas Œdipe; Bonze Madama Butterfly; Angelotti Tosca; Nazarene Salome; Kammersänger Intermezzo; Mayor Jenůfa; Dr Kolenatý The Makropulos Affair; Little Prisoner From the House of the Dead; Dansker Billy Budd; and Pharisee The Gospel of Mary Magdalene.
Concert highlights include: Mozart’s Requiem (Komische Oper Berlin and Amsterdam), King Mark Tristan und Isolde (Bremer Philharmoniker), Brahms’ Requiem (Lisbon), Handel’s Messiah (Bergen Festival), Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Dvořák's St. Ludmilla and Schoenberg’s Gurrelieder (Hallé Orchestra, conducted by Sir Mark Elder), St. Matthew Passion (Cincinnati May Festival with James Conlon), Verdi’s Requiem (Huddersfield Choral Society with Vasily Petrenko), and Tippet's A Child of our Time and Rocco Fidelio (BBC Proms).
