After a return to Berlin for The Flying Dutchman on 21 April, Derek Welton sang the Pater Profundus in a semi-staged performance on 26 April of Mahler’s Symphony No 8 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall, in which he was described as ‘the confident bass’ (Financial Times), and returned to the Cologne Philharmonie on 23 and 24 May for Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius with the WDR Symphony Orchestra. The performance was live-streamed and is available for viewing on YouTube here.
On 7 June, Derek returned to the Concertgebouw Amsterdam in a concert performance of Otto Ketting’s opera Ithaka, performed for the first time since its premiere in 1986. The performance was broadcast on NPO Klassiek and is still available to listen back via this link. Welton’s performance as The Journalist was described as ‘outstanding’ (Nieuwe Noten) and ‘excellent once again’ (Basia con fuoco).
During rehearsals for Ithaka, Welton flew to Prague with a few hours’ notice to replace an ill colleague in Mahler’s Symphony No 8 with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in the closing concert of the Prague Spring Festival. Polyharmonie wrote of his performance that ‘Derek Welton sang powerfully yet engagingly, technically with absolute clarity – a true Pater profundus’.
Ending his 2024/2025 were two concerts in the Vienna Musikverein, performing Zemlinsky’s rarely-performed Frühlingsbegräbnis and Bruckner’s Mass in F minor with the Vienna Symphony. Die Presse remarked that ‘Derek Welton delivered his part with relaxed, sonorous authority’, and Klassik begeistert also praised his performance: ‘I thought bass-baritone Derek Welton was exceptionally good … Secure high notes, impressive volume and lyrical expressiveness combined to create a successful performance’. The concert was recorded and will be broadcast on Radio Ö1 on 29 July at 19:30, available via this link.
Featured photograph: Mahler Symphony No 8 at Smetana Hall, Prague, 3 June 2025. © Vojtěch Brtnický