Huw Montague Rendall

Winner of the 2024 Oper! Awards for Best Newcomer, he makes his debut at the  Bayerische Staatsoper as Conte Almaviva in a new production of Le Nozze di Figaro. This season also sees him debut Eisenstein Die Fledermaus with Staatsoper Hamburg, and with Les Musiciens du Louvre on tour at the Teatro Real and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, as well as singing his first Don Giovanni in concert at Opéra de Rouen. On the concert platform, he gives a solo recital at the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg and makes his debut with the prestigious Musikkollegium Winterthur, singing Mahler’s heartbreaking Kindertotenlieder. Looking further ahead, his engagements include debuts at the Wiener Staaatsoper as well as returns to Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Royal Opera House, Glyndebourne Festival and Opéra de Paris.

The previous season saw Montague Rendall make a series of extraordinary debuts: the title role in Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet in a new production created at Komische Oper Berlin; his company debut at Opéra national de Paris with a double appearance: Papageno Die Zauberflöte and Mercutio in the premiere of Thomas Jolly’s new Roméo et Juliette; Papageno in a new production of Die Zauberflöte at Opéra National du Rhin; Guglielmo Così fan tutte for his debut at Staatsoper Hamburg and Pelléas Pelléas et Mélisande at Santa Fe Opera under the baton of Harry Bicket.

Recent highlights have included his debuts with the Royal Opera House and Lyric Opera of Chicago as Papageno Die Zauberflöte; Guglielmo Cosi Fan Tutte and Malatesta in a critically acclaimed production of Don Pasquale, both at Glyndebourne Festival; the title role in Pelléas et Mélisande at Opéra de Rouen Normandie; Papageno Die Zauberflöte with Glyndebourne on tour; Conte Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro at Opéra National de Lorraine; and Harlequin Ariadne auf Naxos at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

Equally at home in concert and recital, he was heard as Christus in a European tour of the Bach Trilogy: The Life of Christ with Raphaël Pichon and Ensemble Pygmalion, which comprised three oratorios: The Christmas Oratorio, St John Passion and The Easter Oratorio; Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem together with the Dutch National Opera at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam;  Ned Keene Peter Grimes at the Enescu Festival; a “Mozart Matinee” series with Pichon at the Salzburg Festival; Richard Blackford’s Pietà at the Cadogan Hall with the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus & Orchestra;  Mendelssohn Die Erste Walpurgisnacht with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra; Duruflé Requiem with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra; and many concerts in the UK ranging from solo song recitals to sacred works by Brahms, Handel, Stainer, Fauré, Finzi and Vaughan Williams. A dedicated recitalist, his most recent appearances include a recital at the Opéra de Lille, a liederabend with Hélio Vida in Nancy and Die Schöne Müllerin with pianist Gary Matthewman for Lancaster Arts.

An alumnus of the Royal College of Music, Montague Rendall trained under the tutorage of Russell Smythe, having previously studied under David Rendall and Philip Doghan. In summer 2016 Montague Rendall was a Jerwood Young Artist with Glyndebourne Festival Opera, where he sang the role of Fiorello Il barbiere di Siviglia, for which he was awarded the much-coveted John Christie Award 2016. The following summer he joined the prestigious Young Artist Programme at the Salzburg Festspiele and was a member of the International Opera Studio in Zürich from 2016 to 2018.