Bass David Soar was born in Nottinghamshire, England, and studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio.
The bass begins the 2024-2025 season with a house debut with Utah Opera, reprising the role of Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd. On the concert stage, he joins Saint Thomas Church in New York for Handel’s Messiah and travels to Salzburg for their annual “Mozartwoche”. There he will perform Mozart’s arrangement of Handel’s Alexander’s Feast and is also featured as organist in a solo recital featuring the works of Mozart, Handel, and Bach.
Highlights in his 2023-24 season included Fasolt in Das Rheingold and Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd for Opernhaus Zürich, Hobson in Peter Grimes for the English National Opera, and Osmin in Die entführung aus dem Serail with Festival Napa Valley. Mr. Soar also made his San Francisco Symphony debut under the baton of Esa-Pekka Salonen as the bass soloist in Stravinksy’s Les Noces, with additional season performances at the Philharmonie de Paris.
Recent and career highlights on the opera stage have included Capulet in a new production of Roméo et Juliette for Opernhaus Zürich; Colline in La bohème and Lodovico in Otello for the Royal Opera House; Masetto in Don Giovanni and Colline for The Metropolitan Opera; Mr. Flint in Billy Budd for the Royal Opera House, the Glyndebourne Festival Opera and Madrid’s Teatro Real; Sir Walter Raleigh in Gloriana for Teatro Real and English National Opera; Animal Trainer/Athlete in Lulu for the English National Opera; Escamillo in Carmen for the Glyndebourne Festival and the Welsh National Opera; Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, and the Doctor in Wozzeck for the Welsh National Opera; and Somnus in Handel’s Semele with Garsington Opera.
Equally in demand on the concert platform, David’s recent engagements have included Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberge with both the London Symphony Orchestra and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra led by Sir Simon Rattle; Harapha in Handel’s Samson at the Edinburgh Festival; Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra; Mendelssohn’s Elijah with the Royal Flemish Philharmonic and Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España; Bach’s Weihnachts-Oratorium with Royal Northern Sinfonia; Méphistophélès in Berlioz’ La Damnation de Faust with the Orchestra of Opera North; Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins with Hallé Orchestra; Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra; and Bauer in Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder with The Philharmonia.
Recordings for the bass include Havergal Brian’s Faust (Orchestra of English National Opera/Martyn Brabbins); The Dream of Gerontius and Roméo et Juliette for Chandos (BBC Symphony Orchestra/Sir Andrew Davis); Stanford’s Stabat Mater for Naxos (Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra/David Hill); Stravinsky’s Threni (Royal Flemish Philharmonic/Phillippe Herreweghe) and Adriana Lecouvreur on DVD for Opus Arte with Angela Gheorghiu and Jonas Kaufmann (Royal Opera House Orchestra/Sir Mark Elder).
David Soar is currently based in San Francisco, California.
