Derek Welton’s 2025/2026 season is already well underway, having begun with concert performances as the Wanderer in Wagner’s Siegfried at the Lucerne Festival followed by Martinů’s The Epic of Gilgamesh at the Dvořák Prague Festival and the Bratislava Music Festival and Mahler’s Symphony No 8 with The Bach Choir and the Philharmonia Orchestra at St Paul’s Cathedral, London.

Critical acclaim for these concerts includes the following:

‘Derek Welton sang the Wanderer with absolute mastery of the role’ — El País

‘Derek Welton impresses with his of mastery of quiet and legato singing while maintaining excellent text clarity’ — Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

‘Welton has a noble, dark timbre that is well suited to the external authority and internal restlessness of the incognito Wotan’. — Rivista Musica

‘The Australian Derek Welton sounded equally powerful and rich in every register and portrayed his part with convincing expressivity.’ — Opera Slovakia

‘Australian bass-baritone Derek Welton has a dark low register, perfect for the part of Pater Profundus. His “Erleuchte mein bedürftig Herz!” was most uplifting’.
— Seen and Heard International

Première Der fliegende Holländer

Following these concerts, Derek sang the première of Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer in the Felsenreitschule in Salzburg. His performance was widely praised by the press:

‘Derek Welton does not only cut a fine figure: his Holländer, not merely a demon, portrays the human drama of this character vividly, together with a robust, well-balanced bass-baritone voice. One can hear that this man is already an established Wotan.’ — Münchner Merkur

‘Derek Welton sings the title role of the Holländer in subtle shift between unearthly absence and full-blooded presence.’ — Der Standard

‘The Australian bass-baritone Derek Welton is very sexy indeed, and he certainly has an impressive voice.’ — BR Klassik

‘Derek Welton, already experienced in Bayreuth, combines deeply resonating vocal power with a lyrical core.’ — Salzburger Nachrichten

Performances continue until 8 November.

Rest of season

Rehearsals are currently underway at the Hungarian State Opera in Wagner’s Lohengrin, in which Derek sings König Heinrich, a role and house début, premièring on 15 November.

The rest of the season involves a mixture of concerts and opera performances: an all-Bach concert at the Grafenegg Festival, returns to the Wiener Staatsoper as Orest in Strauss’s Elektra and the Deutsche Oper Berlin in the title role of Der fliegende Holländer, concert performances as König Marke in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, a return to the Opéra de Lyon in his role début as John Claggart in Britten’s Billy Budd, and débuts at the Oper Zürich as Pizarro in Beethoven’s Fidelio and at the Müpa Budapest as the Wanderer in Siegfried.

Other performances are in the process of being finalised and will be announced in due course.

Photograph © Salzburger Landestheater | Tobias Witzgall