Biography | Brian Mulligan
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Brian Mulligan

Biography

Irish-American baritone Brian Mulligan studied at Yale University and the Juilliard School and works regularly with the world’s leading opera houses and orchestras.

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He begins the 2021/22 season with his role debut as Wotan in Das Rheingold with the Wiener Symphoniker and Andres Orozco-Estrada at the Bregenzer Festspiele. He then sings Crèon in Enescu’s Œdipe for his house debut with Opéra National de Paris, in a new production by Wajdi Mouwad with Ingo Metzmacher conducting. He also makes a house debut with Irish National Opera in Dublin, as Don Pizzaro in Fidelio, with Fergus Sheil conducting.

For his first performance of 2022, Mulligan is the bass soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Antonello Manacorda and the Munich Philharmonic. Afterwards, he returns to the Dutch National Opera for his role debut as Jochanaan in the Ivo van Hove production of Salome, conducted by Lahav Shani.

In April, he makes his role debut as Wotan in Die Walküre in a new production at Oper Stuttgart, with Cornelius Meister conducting. He finishes his season with a return to Bregenz, as Sharpless in a new production of Madama Butterfly from Andreas Homoki with Enrique Mazzola conducting. Early 2022 will also see the release of Brian Mulligan’s third solo record, titled Alburnum. The disc will consist of songs and cycles from the 21st Century, with pianist Timothy Long and music from Mason Bates, Missy Mazzoli and Greg Spears.

Last season, he made his debut as Mandryka in Arabella at San Francisco Opera, Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de Perles at Zurich Opera, Guglielmo in Puccini’s Le Villi with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and his house debut at the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam as Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande. In summer 2019 Brian Mulligan made his debut at the Salzburg Festival as Créon in Oedipe by George Enescu.

A voice that is rich, secure and really, really big

The New York Times

Roles in his German repertoire include Amfortas (Parsifal), Gunther (Götterdämmerung), Donner (Das Rheingold), Peter (Hänsel und Gretel), Der Heerrufer (Lohengrin) and Tadeusz (Die Passagierin).

His Italian repertoire encompasses the roles of Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Renato (Un ballo in Maschera), Paolo (Simon Boccanegra), Conte di Luna (Il trovatore), Macbeth (Macbeth), Amonasro (Aida), Ford (Falstaff), the title role of Rigoletto, Sharpless (Madama Butterfly) and Marcello (La bohème).

In French, he can be heard as Valentin (Faust), Golaud (Pélleas et Mélisande), Chorèbe (Les Troyens), Nélusko (L’Africaine) and as the main character in Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet.

Brian Mulligan is also a representative of English opera with roles such as Balstrode (Peter Grimes), Sweeney Todd, Prospero (the Tempest), Nixon (Nixon in China), Klinghoffer (The Death of Klinghoffer) and John Proctor (The Crucible). The artist has also performed several successful world premieres, including the “Songs for Adam” by James Primosch with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the song cycle “Walden” by Greg Spears, performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington. In 2016, he was acclaimed by critics for his outstanding portrayal of Jack Torrance in Paul Moravec’s The Shining at the Minnesota Opera.

Brian Mulligan is riveting…a fine, strong, open baritone

The Financial Times of London
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The internationally sought-after artist is a regular guest on the most important opera and concert stages worldwide, such as the Metropolitan Opera New York, the San Francisco Opera, the Lyric Opera Chicago, the Houston Opera, the opera houses in Amsterdam, Antwerp, Frankfurt and Zurich, as well as important festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, the Wiener Festwochen, the Saito Kinan Festival in Japan, the Wexford Opera Festival, the Aspen Music Festival or Salzburg Festival.

Brian Mulligan’s critically acclaimed debut album, recorded for Naxos in 2017, includes two song cycles by Dominick Argento. His second album “Old Fashioned”, consisting of American and British songs of the early 20th century, has been released in 2019. Mahler’s 8th Symphony with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Dudamel is available on DVD (Deutsche Grammophon).

February 2021 – for the most recent biography please contact Annette Kroll

Repertoire

Adams

The Death Of Klinghoffer
Klinghoffer

Nixon in China
Nixon

Adés

The Tempest
Prospero

Bellini

I Puritani
Riccardo

Berlioz

Les Troyens
Chorèbe

Bizet

Les Pêcheurs De Perles
Zurga

Braunfels

Die Vögel
Prometheus

Britten

Peter Grimes
Balstrode

The Rape of Lucretia
Tarquinius

Debussy

Pélleas et Mélisande
Golaud

Donizetti

Lucia di Lammermoor
Enrico

Gounod

Faust
Valentin

Humperdinck

Hänsel und Gretel
Peter

Massenet

Werther
Albert

Meyerbeer

L’Africaine
Nélusko

Moravec

The Shining
Jack Torrance

Mozart

Le nozze di Figaro
Count Almaviva

Puccini

La bohème
Marcello

Madama Butterfly
Sharpless

Le Villi
Guglielmo

Sondheim

Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd

Strauss

Arabella
Mandryka

Die Frau ohne Schatten
Barak

Tchaikovsky

Pique Dame
Yeletsky

Thomas

Hamlet
Hamlet

Verdi

Aida
Amonasro

Un ballo in maschera
Count Anckarström

Falstaff
Ford

Simon Boccanegra
Paolo

Il trovatore
Conte di Luna


Wagner

Das Rheingold
Donner

Der fliegende Holländer
Holländer

Götterdämmerung
Gunther

Lohengrin
The King's Herald

Ward

The Crucible
John Proctor

Brian Mulligan

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