The Australian-born bass-baritone Derek Welton is recognised as one of the leading voices of his generation, with a repertoire ranging from Bach and Handel to the present day.
He is a regular guest of companies such as the Royal Ballet and Opera, Covent Garden, Salzburg Festival, Vienna State Opera, Bayreuth Festival, Bavarian State Opera, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Semperoper Dresden, Hamburg State Opera, Paris Opera, Teatro Real Madrid, Dutch National Opera, and Lyric Opera of Chicago, in roles such as Wotan/Wanderer (Der Ring des Nibelungen), Holländer (Der fliegende Holländer), Amfortas and Klingsor (Parsifal), König Marke (Tristan und Isolde), Orest (Elektra), Voland (Der Meister und Margarita), Bluebeard (Bluebeard’s Castle), Pizarro (Fidelio), Forester (The Cunning Little Vixen), Prus (The Makropulos Case), Saint-Bris (Les Huguenots), Pandolfe (Cendrillon) and Mozart’s Figaro.
Derek has performed with orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Academy of Ancient Music, Hallé Orchestra, Czech Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Berlin Philharmonic, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Concerto Köln in repertoire including Bach’s St Matthew Passion, St John Passion and Mass in B minor, Handel’s Messiah, Haydn’s Creation, Beethoven’s Symphony No 9, Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Tippett’s A Child of our Time.
Welton’s engagements for the 2025/2026 season will include a return to the Opéra de Paris as Wanderer in Siegfried, a role in which he will also make his début at Müpa Budapest, his role and house début as König Heinrich in Lohengrin at the Hungarian State Opera, his house début at Opernhaus Zürich as Pizarro, the title role of Der fliegende Holländer at the Landestheater Salzburg, and his role début as John Claggart in Billy Budd at the Opéra de Lyon. Concert appearances will include the title role of The Epic of Gilgamesh at the Dvořák Prague Festival, Mahler’s Symphony No 8 with the Philharmonia Orchestra and a concert of Bach at the Grafenegg Festival, as well as Wanderer at the Lucerne Festival and König Marke in Tristan und Isolde in concert with the Houston Symphony Orchestra.
Derek Welton’s discography includes performances as Wotan in Das Rheingold (Naxos), Amfortas in Parsifal (Deutsche Grammophon), Orest in Elektra (Unitel Edition), Der Pförtner in Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane (Naxos), the Herald in Lohengrin (Deutsche Grammophon), Creonte in Haydn’s L’anima del filosofo (Pinchgut Live), in Martinů’s The Epic of Gilgamesh (Supraphon Records), Stravinsky’s Pulcinella (Harmonia Mundi), Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 (Ondine and Brattle Media) and on a solo CD of Vaughan Williams songs with Iain Burnside for Albion Records.
Derek Welton holds degrees in Linguistics and German from the University of Melbourne and in Music from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.