Richard Berkeley-Steele

Richard Berkeley-Steele has had a distinguished career spanning over four decades.

He has performed leading tenor roles in many of the world’s foremost opera houses in repertoire ranging from Tamino to Tristan. In 1976 he made his professional debut as Flamand at Glyndebourne, and in subsequent seasons at the Festival he sang Fenton and Tamino, and more recently, Albert in The Miserly Knight.

Progressing into the dramatic tenor repertoire, Richard rapidly established himself as a leading Heldentenor.

Notable engagements include:
Siegfried and Siegmund in the acclaimed Seattle Ring Cycles, Siegfried for English National Opera, Siegmund at the Liceu Barcelona, Tannhäuser at Sydney Opera House, Beijing, Chemnitz, Venice, and the Queen Elizabeth Hall London, Tristan with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Grange Park Opera, Lohengrin at English National Opera and Teatro Massimo Palermo, Loge in the Adelaide, Melbourne and Toronto Ring Cycles and Melot at Covent Garden and the Salle Pleyel, Paris.

In addition to Wagner, Richard sang Laca in Jenufa at the Metropolitan Opera New York and San Francisco Opera, Don José at San Francisco Opera, Peter Grimes at the Liceu Barcelona, Herodes in Washington, Stuttgart, New York City Opera and Bogota, Samson in Sao Paolo, Jimmy Mahoney in Stuttgart and Chemnitz, Eisenstein in Seattle and Seoul and Sir Philip Wingrave in Britten’s Owen Wingrave at Royal Opera House Covent Garden, the Aldeburgh and Edinburgh Festivals, and the Théâtre du Capitole Toulouse.

Richard appeared as an actor in the role of Albany in Keith Warner’s production of Shakespeare’s King Lear at the Grange Festival, as well as collaborating with him on Sondheim’s Passion and David Blake’s Icarus at the Montepulciano Festival.