Callum Thorpe | Bass

ABOUT

British bass Callum Thorpe was previously a member of the solo ensemble at the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich where roles included Banco Macbeth, Pistola Falstaff, Il Re d’EgittoAida, Colline La Bohème, Zuniga Carmen, Farfallo Die Schweigsame Frau, Truffaldin Ariadne auf Naxos and Masetto Don Giovanni. Recent career highlights include his debut at Teatro Real Madrid singing Valens in Theodora in a Katie Mitchell production conducted by Ivor Bolton, and his debut at Welsh National Opera as Hobson in Peter Grimes in a new production by Melly Still. He has sung many roles for Glyndebourne Festival, most recently Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte (2024), Pistola in Richard Jones’s production of Falstaff (2025), and last season, Caronte in L’Orfeo. In the 2026/2027 season, Callum sings the role of Sparafucile in Rigoletto for Opera North, La Voce in Idomeneo and Dr Grenvil in La Traviata, both at Glyndebourne Festival. On the concert platform he performs Bach’s St Matthew Passion with Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra and Jaroslaw Thiel, and Acis and Galatea with Les Arts Florissants and Paul Agnew.

Callum has a wide-ranging repertoire from the baroque to the twentieth century. Among his many notable performances are Polifemo in Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo at the London Handel Festival under Laurence Cummings, Sarastro Die Zauberflöte and Banco Macbeth (both for Theater Basel). For Opera North he has sung Sparafucile Rigoletto, Angelotti Tosca, the Poacher in The Cunning Little Vixen and appeared in Sir David Pountney’s new production of Purcell’s Masque of Might. He has collaborated many times with William Christie including Purcell’s The Fairy Queen and The Indian Queen, Rameau’s Hippolyte et Aricie, Phobetor in Lully’s Atys, and Pluto in Charpentier’s La descente d’Orphée aux enfers. Callum created the role of Gibarian in the world première of Fujikura’s Solaris at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées and has also sung works by Peter Maxwell Davies and Viktor Ullmann.

Other operatic roles have included Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia (Garsington Opera), Talbot Maria Stuarda (Irish National Opera), Plutone Orfeo (Royal Opera House), and roles in Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria with Emmanuelle Haïm. He has also performed Hunding (Die Walküre) in concert with the Bilbao Symphony Orchestra under Eric Nielsen. 

On the concert platform, his repertoire includes Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Edward Gardner; Schubert’s Mass No. 5 with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; excerpts from Bizet’s Les pêcheurs de perles and Gounod’s Faust in concert for Scottish Opera; as well as Bach’s St John Passion and St Matthew Passion, Handel’s Messiah, and the Mozart and Verdi Requiem, with conductors including Marc Minkowski, Sir Mark Elder, Ivor Bolton, Jonathan Cohen, Masato Suzuki, Christian Curnyn and Edward Gardner.

Callum initially obtained a PhD in Immunology before focusing on his vocal studies at the Royal Academy of Music.

MEDIA

CALENDAR 26/27

• June
  • L’Orfeo (Monteverdi) – Caronte
    • Glyndebourne Festival Opera // Kentridge / Cohen
      • 14 / 18 / 21 / 26 / 27 //
  • Requiem (Verdi)
    • City of Bristol Choir / Exultant Singers / Bristol Metropolitan Orchestra // Ogden
      • 20 // Bristol Beacon
• July
  • L’Orfeo (Monteverdi) – Caronte
    • Glyndebourne Festival Opera // Kentridge / Cohen
      • 2 / 7 / 10 / 12 / 18 / 20 / 23 / 25 //
• October
  • Rigoletto (Verdi) – Sparafucile
    • Opera North // Elufowoju J / Lange
      • 18 / 23 / 25 / 28 / 30 / 31 // Grand Theatre, Leeds
• November
  • Rigoletto (Verdi) – Sparafucile
    • Opera North // Elufowoju J / Lange
      • 5 / 6 // Theatre Royal, Newcastle
      • 12 / 14 // Lowry, Salford Quays
      • 19 / 20 // Theatre Royal, Nottingham
• December
  • Acis & Galatea (Handel) – Polyphemus
    • Les Arts Florissants // Agnew
      • 15 //
• December
  • Kát’a Kabanová (Janáček) – Dikoj
    • Teatr Wielki Opera Narodowa
      • 17 / 20 / 24 / 27 / 30//
• March
  • St Matthew Passion (Bach)
    • Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra // Thiel
      • 21 // NFM Orlen Main Hall
      • 23 // La Seine Musicale, Paris
• May – July
  • Idomeneo (Mozart) – La Voce
    • Glyndebourne Festival Opera // Langridge / Ticciati
• June – August
  • La Traviata (Verdi) – Dottore Grenvil
    • Glyndebourne Festival Opera // Cairn / Frizza

CONTACT

Callum is represented worldwide by Nicki Wenham at Rayfield Allied