Scottish tenor Liam Bonthrone is currently a member of the Opera Studio of the Bayerische Staatsoper. Roles in Munich include Pedrillo (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Brighella (Ariadne auf Naxos), Collatino (Lucrezia - Respighi), Der Erzähler (Der Mond - Orff), Gran Sacerdote (Idomeneo), Remendado (Carmen), Ein Junger Seemann (Tristan und Isolde), Rustighello (Lucrezia Borgia), Un Lampionaio (Manon Lescaut), and Player 2 (Hamlet - Brett Dean). Liam recently made his debut at Tiroler Winterfestspiele Erl, as Leshyi in Rimski-Korsakov’s The Snow Maiden.
Other operatic roles have included Conte Almaviva (Il barbiere di Siviglia) with Nevill Holt Opera, Bruno (I Puritani) with the Rotterdam Operakoor in De Doelen, Don Ramiro (La Cenerentola) with British Youth Opera, and at Royal Academy Opera - Ferrando (Cosi fan tutte), Gonzalve (L’heure Espagnole), Tanzmeister/Haushofmeister (Ariadne auf Naxos) and Flute (A Midsummer Night’s Dream).
Liam released his debut solo album titled Soirée Parisienne with pianist Benjamin Mead as part of the Royal Academy of Music Bicentenary Series for the Linn Records label.
Liam was a Bicentenary Scholar at Royal Academy Opera, where he studied with Nuccia Focile, Marcus van den Akker and Jonathan Papp. He also holds a Masters of Performance with distinction from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and a First Class Bachelor’s from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
He won First Prize in the 2022 Clonter Opera Prize, was a semi-finalist in the 2022 Wigmore Hall/Bollinger Song Competition, and a finalist in the 2020 Kathleen Ferrier Awards. He is a recent alumnus of The Internationale Meistersinger Akademie, directed by Edith Wiens. Liam is also Samling Artist, and has performed as an Alvarez Young Artist with Garsington Opera. He performed Tenor Corypheè, and covered the title role in Garsington’s 2021 production of Le Comte Ory.
As a concert soloist, performances include Handel Messiah and Samson, Mendelssohn Elijah, Mozart Requiem and Mass in C minor, Bach Christmas Oratorio, St John Passion, Haydn The Creation, Finzi For St. Cecilia and MacMillan All the hills and vales along. He also appeared in various roles in the ensemble for Bernstein’s Candide, with the London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Marin Alsop, in the Barbican Centre.
On the recital platform, Liam has performed alongside the Prince Consort at the Wigmore Hall, and in Graham Johnson’s Song Guild at Milton Court. He was a featured soloist with BBC ‘Total Immersion’, and has performed in collaboration with pianist Alasdair Hogarth for Classic FM. Liam performed in a Russian Song recital as part of the UK/Russia 2020 Year of Culture in the Rimsky-Korsakov Museum, in St Petersburg.
Liam has participated in Masterclasses led by artists including Joyce DiDonato, Brigitte Fassbaender, Malcolm Martineau, Anna Tomowa-Sintow, Ian Bostridge, Ann Murray, Edith Wiens, Helmut Deutsch and Roger Vignoles.
Alongside his studies, Liam appears regularly in theatres throughout the UK as part of The Two Highland Lads – a Scottish variety duo, alongside fellow Perth baritone Kenneth Maciver, and Leonard Brown and his All Star Band.
Liam is grateful for the generous support and sponsorship of:
Bicentenary Scholarship from RAM
The Countess of Munster Musical Trust
Help Musicians UK
The Drake Calleja Trust
The Caird Trust
Dewar Arts Award
The Cross Trust
Jimmie Cairncross Charitable Trust
Goldsmiths’ UK
Thorntons Trust
Liam is managed by Rayfield Allied.
“Some of [the singing] is excellent. High-flying tenor Liam Bonthrone has all the notes for Count Almaviva and can get around the coloratura with the best of them.”
Photography by Wilfried Hösl (2022)
“Liam Bonthrone drew attention to himself with a beautifully and tastefully sung interpretation of the unpleasantly high-lying narrator part.”
“Liam Bonthrone’s Don Ramiro had a charming naivety to him, coupled with an admirable facility in Rossini’s tenor writing, with just the right sort of vibrant yet not overdone top notes, and this role is high.”