David Kempster

David Kempster is one of a small number of true Verdi baritones to have emerged from the United Kingdom. He began his career at English National Opera, and has subsequently appeared with all the major British opera companies, developing a special relationship with his “home company”, Welsh National Opera, where he has sung over 20 major roles.

David was born in Wales and studied at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. As a principal baritone at English National Opera from 1998, he sang roles including Marcello (La bohème), Lescaut (Manon Lescaut), Conte di Luna (Il Trovatore), Poacher (The Cunning Little Vixen) Renato (Ballo in Maschera),Chou En Lai (Nixon in China) and Teddy Foran (The Silver Tassie, world premiere). For Welsh National Opera, David has sung the title roles in Don Giovanni, William Tell and Nabucco, as well as the Duke of Nottingham (Roberto Devereux), Sir Riccardo Forth (I Puritani), do Luna (Il Trovatore) and Iago (Otello) amongst many others. He was invited to sing Alfio and Tonio in the company’s gala staging of Cavalleria Rusticana & Pagliacci to mark its seventieth birthday. He appeared as Captain Balstrode in the Aldeburgh Festival’s landmark 2013 staging of Peter Grimes on Aldeburgh Beach, part of the celebrations for Britten’s centenary, which was also recorded and broadcast.

David has worked with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Opera North, Scottish Opera, the Buxton Festival, the Dallas Opera, the Chelsea Opera Group, Opera Africa, Florida Grand Opera the Danish National Opera (Den Jyske Opera), the Royal Opera, Covent Garden and Opera Theatre Company in Dublin. 

Most recently, David has sung a number of roles for the Royal Danish Opera, including title role Rigoletto, title role Sweeney Todd, Germont (Traviata), Iago (Otello), Scarpia (Tosca), Sharpless (Madam Butterfly) and Escamillo (Carmen).

He has been a soloist at the BBC Proms and with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra ,The Hallé, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Copenhagen Philharmonic, Johannesburg Symphony Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra and the London Mozart Players among others. He has made several recordings, including the role of Sévère in Donizetti’s Les Martyrs for Opera Rara, which was named Recording of the Year at the 2016 International Opera Awards, and Peter in Elgar’s The Apostles, with Mark Elder and the Halle, which was named “Recording of the Year” by BBC Music Magazine, and the Gramophone Award for “Choral Recording of the Year”.

I recent years, David has established himself as a successful voice teacher, with posts at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester and Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, as well as giving frequent masterclasses to young singers.