Gregory Kunde

American tenor Gregory Kunde made his Royal Opera debut in 2016 as Manrico (Il trovatore) and has since returned to sing Manrico and Otello.

Kunde was born in Kankakee, Illinois, and studied choral conducting and voice at Illinois State University. He made his professional debut in 1978 with Lyric Opera of Chicago as Cassio (Otello). He has sung for companies including the Metropolitan Opera, New York, Paris Opéra, Théâtre du Châtelet, Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, Opera Australia, Teatro Real, Madrid, Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía, La Scala, Milan, La Fenice, Venice, Teatro Massimo, Palermo, Theater an der Wien, Semperoper Dresden, Deutsches Oper Berlin and Liceu, Barcelona. A specialist in French and Italian repertory, his roles include the title roles of Idomeneo, Roberto Devereux and Rossini and Verdi’s Otello, Pollione (Norma), Raoul (Les Huguenots), Jean de Leyde (Le Prophète), Rodolfo (Luisa Miller), Arrigo (I vespri siciliani), Riccardo (Un ballo in maschera), Don Alvaro (La forza del destino), Radames (Aida), Vasco da Gama (L’Africaine), Faust (La Damnation de Faust), Enée (Les Troyens), Samson (Samson et Dalila), Des Grieux (Manon Lescaut), Turiddu (Cavalleria rusticana), Canio (Pagliacci) and Andrea Chénier. In 2013 he sang Peter Grimes in concert with the Orchestra and Chorus of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Antonio Pappano. 

Kunde has recorded widely, including Benvenuto Cellini (Virgin Classics and LSO Live with Colin Davis), Les Troyens (Théâtre du Châtelet, recorded for DVD by Opus Arte) and the solo album Vincerò! (Universal). He has toured Europe in concert and recital. His many awards include the 2016 International Opera Award for best male singer.