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Thomas Oliemans

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Biography
Dutch baritone Thomas Oliemans is one of the most compelling and versatile performers on today’s international opera and concert stages. Praised for his musical intelligence and charismatic presence, he recently made a celebrated debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York— described as “a singular Papageno” (The New York Times) and “the star of the show” (New York Classical Review).

In the 2026/27 season, he returns to De Nationale Opera in the role of Judge Brack in the world premiere of Vasco Mendonça’s Hedda Gabler and as Fayke Noose in Shostakovich’s Moscow Cheryomushki. He will also reprise the role of Theseus in a revival of Deborah Warner’s staging of Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Florence. In concert, he performs the role of Olim in Weill’s Der Silbersee with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Iván Fischer, and presents his programme Van Brel to Bennent, together with pianists Cor Bakker and Bert van den Brink, across the Netherlands. Recitals in Italy and Germany round off the season.

Thomas Oliemans’ operatic career spans leading roles at Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Staatsoper Berlin, Teatro Real Madrid, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg Festival, Liceu Barcelona, English National Opera, Volksoper Wien, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, Opéra National du Rhin et al. His wide-ranging repertoire includes roles such as Figaro, Il Conte di Almaviva/Le nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo, Don Alfonso/Cosi fan tutte, Schaunard, Marcello/La bohème, Lescaut/Manon Lescaut,  Hamlet/Hamlet, Eisenstein, Dr. Falke/Die Fledermaus, Faninal/Der Rosenkavalier, Gunther/Die Götterdämmerung, Donner/Das Rheingold, Kothner/Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Peter Besenbinder/Hänsel und Gretel, Bill/Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, Gonsalvo Fieschi/Die Gezeichneten, Mr. Redburn/Billy Budd, Father-in-Law/Innocence (Saariaho), Valmont/Quartet (Francesconi), Le Témoin/L’Apokalypse Arabe (Odeh-Tamimi) and Pluto/Eurydice – Die Liebenden blind (Trojahn).

Thomas Oliemans has collaborated with renowned conductors including Daniel Barenboim, Ivor Bolton, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Natalie Stutzmann, Raphaël Pichon, Marc Albrecht, Hartmut Haenchen, Antonello Manacorda, Peter Dijkstra, Markus Stenz, Jaap van Zweden, James Gaffigan, Simone Young, Karina Canellakis, Vasily Petrenko and with orchestras such as the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Pygmalion and the Amsterdam Sinfonietta.

His concert repertoire ranges from Bach’s Passions, the oratorios of Mozart, Haydn, Mendelssohn and Brahms, to Berlioz’ L’enfance du Christ, Mahler’s song cycles, Das Lied von der Erde and Symphony no 8, Shostakovich’s Symphony no 14 and Micheangelo Suite, Zemlinsky’s Lyrische Sinfonie, Frank Martin’s Jedermann-Monologe, Britten’s War Requiem, Pintscher’s Shirim, Larcher’s Alle Tage and Apemàntus in the world premiere of Luca Francesconi’s Timon Etùdes.

As a recitalist, he has performed at Wigmore Hall, Oxford Song, Musikverein Vienna, Tokyo Opera City, and in Paris, Zürich, New York and Toronto, often partnering with pianists Malcolm Martineau, Roger Vignoles, and Paolo Giacometti.

Thomas Oliemans is a regular guest at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw and was artist in residence in 2022/23. This included acclaimed solo-recitals of Schubert’s Winterreise, with himself on the piano, which was accompanied by a 25 episodes podcast. Following the great success of this project, the hall commissioned a new podcast series, featuring Bach’s Matthäus-Passio, followed by Mahler’s nine completed symphonies.

He regularly teaches masterclasses, curated the 2019 Delft Chamber Music Festival and has served on the jury of the International Vocal Competition s’Hertogenbosch.

Thomas Oliemans’ extensive discography includes Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Schubert’s song cycles, Poulenc and Fauré songs, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elias, works by Frank Martin and a widely praised recording of Brahms’ Die schöne Magelone with Malcolm Martineau.

 
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