COUNTERTENOR

Described by Rodney Milnes in The Times as ‘one of the most intensely musical of today’s countertenors’ and by Michael John White in The Independent on Sunday as having ‘one of the most purely beautiful countertenor voices around’, Jonathan Peter Kenny was born in Liverpool, read music at Exeter University and trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama with James Bowman. He now studies with Brian Gordon.

Jonathan Peter Kenny is best known for his Handel interpretations, which have included the title–role in Amadgigi for OTC, Dublin (also at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Buxton, Covent Garden and Melbourne International Festivals and the Opéra Comique), Valentiniano Ezio at the Karlsruhe Handel Festival, Guido Flavio for OTC, Dublin (also at the Covent Garden Festival and in Antwerp), Nireno Giulio Cesare for the Royal Opera, London, Medoro Orlando at the Beaune and City of London Festivals, Bertarido Rodelinda for OTC, Dublin, David Saul at the Covent Garden Festival and La Chaise–Dieu and Andronico Tamerlano for OTC, Dublin (a production that also toured to the Covent Garden Festival, Expo 98 in Lisbon, the Glimmerglass Festival and the Melbourne International Festival).

His other operatic engagements have included Endimione La Calisto for Opera Factory, Zurich, Raphael Tobias and the Angel and James Hey! Persephone for Almeida Opera, Orfeo Orfeo ed Euridice for Scottish Opera, Shepherd L’Orfeo for English National Opera and at the Salzburg Festival, Vera Vera of Las Vegas for OTC, Dublin, L’umana fragilità / Anfinomo II Ritorno d’Ulisse for Musica nel Chiostro, Batignano, Michael Nyman’s Mozart Letters, Riddles and Writs for the London Opera Festival, Death Paradise Lost in Krakow and The Doctor The Music Programme in Warsaw.

He sings regularly in concert, particular highlights including The Fall of Lucifer in Cordes, Dixit Dominus at the BBC Proms, Jephtha for the Netherlands Bach Society the Monteverdi Vespers 1610 at the Edinburgh Festival and Dido and Aeneas for the English Concert, as well as appearances with the Academy of Ancient Music, the Akademie für Alte Musik, the Gabrieli Consort, London Baroque, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra and the Ulster Orchestra under conductors including Jane Glover, Harry Bicket, Ivor Bolton, Marcus Creed, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Paul Goodwin, Jos van Immerseel, Paul McCreesh and Andrew Parrott.

Jonathan Peter Kenny’s recordings include Jonathan Miller’s acclaimed BBC TV film and CD of the St Matthew Passion, Agrippina, Israel in Egypt and Dido and Aeneas with John Eliot Gardiner (Philips); Buxtehude Cantatas with Jos van Immerseel (Channel Classics), Caldara’s La conversione di Clodoveo with Le Parlement de Musique (Accord) and Jocelyn Pook’s Deluge (Virgin). Most recently released is Israel in Babylon with Joachim Fontaine (K617).

Recent engagements have included Oberon A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Polinesso Ariodante for English Touring Opera, L’umana fragilità / Pissandro Il ritorno d’Ulisse for the Royal Danish Opera and Trinculo The Tempest for the Opéra du Rhin, Strasbourg.

Engagements in 2006 / 2007 include Idraspe Erismena and the title-role in Tolomeo for English Touring Opera, Julian Joseph’s Bridgetower at the City of London Festival and Shepherd L'Orfeo for the English Bach Festival Trust.

Please note that this biography is not to be used for programmes. Current information is available on request.