Gwyn Hughes Jones

Gwyn Hughes Jones hails from Llanbedrgoch, Anglesey in Wales, and was trained as a baritone at Guildhall, winning the Kathleen Ferrier scholarship in 1992, before moving abroad to study with David Pollard as a tenor. He made his professional operatic debut in 1995 with Welsh National Opera as Ismaele (Nabucco) conducted by Carlo Rizzi. Among the roles he has sung for the company are Duca (Rigoletto), Rodolfo (La Boheme), Nemorino (L’Elisir d’Amore) and title role in Gounod’s Faust. Roles for other British companies include Rinuccio (Gianni Schicchi) and Rodolfo (La Boheme) for English National Opera and Macduff (Macbeth) conducted by Sir Edward Downes for Amici di Verdi. He made his European debut as Ismaele (Nabucco) with Opera National de Paris conducted by Maestro Bennini and subsequently sang Camille de Rossillon (Die Lustige Witwe) for the company. Other appearances in Europe include the title role Werther for Opera National de Lyon conducted by Christian Badea, Fenton (Falstaff) for La Monnaie, Brussels under the baton of Antonio Pappano, Rodolfo (La Boheme) for Norwegian National Opera and Don Jose (Carmen) for Music Theatre Trondheim. In 1999 Gwyn made his American operatic debut as Fenton (Falstaff), conducted by Pappano for the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In the same year he appeared at San Francisco Opera singing Rodolfo, and Ismaele conducted by Maestro Santi. In 2001 Gwyn made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera, New York singing Ismaele, a role he has revived twice for the company. The production, conducted by James Levine was released on DVD in 2005. Gwyn has also sung Fenton (Falstaff) at the Metropolitan Opera, New York and Ernesto (Don Pasquale) for Florida Grand Opera. His concert repertoire is extensive and includes Verdi’s Requiem and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde. He has appeared with many orchestras, among them the London Symphony Orchestra, London Sinfonietta, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra. He is also an accomplished recitalist, having appeared at the Purcell Room, at the Auditorium du Louvre, Paris and recorded the first ever televised recital from the Wigmore Hall, London. Recent appearances have included Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly) for Lyric Opera of Chicago and Ismaele (Nabucco) for the Metropolitan Opera, New York. Future plans include Pinkerton for Teatro Regio, Parma, the Royal Opera, Covent Garden and English National Opera.