©Photo: Ben McKee

Alex Otterburn

Baritone

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“His was one of those tour-de-force performances that leave you breathless”
Seen and Heard International

Recent performances have highlighted Alex Otterburn as an artist capable of “ruling the stage” (Opera Magazine) in a dynamic repertoire of contemporary creations and traditional roles alike. From his debut as Ned Keene in Paul Curran’s new production of Peter Grimes at Teatro La Fenice, to his tour-de-force performance as Eddy in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek at the Edinburgh International Festival, Alex Otterburn is “effortlessly charming, devilish and able to fill the stage with personality whether singing or speaking” (Planet Hugill).

Trained at the Royal Academy of Music, it was Alex Otterburn’s star turn as Eddy in Mark-Anthony Turnage’s Greek at the Edinburgh International Festival, with further performances for Scottish Opera and on tour to the Brooklyn Academy of Arts marking his US operatic debut, which defined him as an exciting and important artist of the new generation. An invitation to become an English National Opera Harewood Artist followed, and Alex has since received significant acclaim for his incomparable debut as Pluto in Emma Rice’s new production of Orpheus in the Underworld, the creation of Squibby in the world premiere performances of Iain Bell’s Jack the Ripper: The Women of Whitechapel, and his debut as Schaunard in Jonathan Miller’s La bohème under Ben Glassberg. This season Alex Otterburn makes his company debut with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in Deborah Warner’s new production of Wozzeck under Sir Antonio Pappano, as well as making his Glyndebourne Festival Opera debut as Starveling in A Midsummer Night’s Dream conducted by Dalia Stasevska. At the English National Opera, Alex returns as Ernie in the UK premiere of Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life conducted by Nicole Paiement and Henry Cuffe in a concert performance of Gloriana under Martyn Brabbins.

Debussy, Pelléas et Mélisande, Tower Scene © TallWallMedia

Highlights elsewhere have included Alex Otterburn’s ‘clarion-voiced’ (Opera Today) debut as Demetrius in Paul Curran’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream for The Grange Festival, Chip in Antony McDonald’s new production of On the Town at the Hyogo Performing Arts Centre and on tour in Tokyo, Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos for both Scottish Opera and Opera Holland Park, Pallante in Agrippina for The Grange Festival, and his company debut at Opera North as Cascada in The Merry Widow under Martin André.

Building a diverse concert repertoire, recent highlights have included Carmina Burana with the Oulu Symphony Orchestra under Rumon Gamba, Bernstein’s Arias and Barcarolles accompanied by James Baillieu and Philip Moore at the Edinburgh International Festival, and a programme including Vaughan Williams and Gurney at the Ludlow English Song Festival with Iain Burnside. Elsewhere he has sung Haydn’s The Seasons, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Fauré’s Requiem, and Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony. In recent months Alex has recorded ‘The Call’ (Stone Records), the debut release from Barbara Hannigan’s Momentum initiative which introduces the next generation of classical artists, accompanied by Malcolm Martineau.

Gallery

Alex Otterburn © ENO1920 Orpheus in the Underworld

"Orpheus in the Underworld trailer" © English National Opera

Mozart, Die Zauberflöte, Papagena! Papagena! Papagena! © Alex Otterburn

Britten, Billy Budd, King of the birds © TallWallMedia

Mozart, Le nozze di Figaro, Hai gia vinta la causa © TallWallMedia

Donizetti, L’elisir d’amore, Come paride vezzoso © Alex Otterburn

“Baritone Alex Otterburn produced a vibrant performance as the sharp-witted Ned Keene, in which he convincingly developed his multi-layered character, blending the fun-loving, tolerant and helpful side of his nature with a hard-headed, impatient, cynical side. His centrepiece song “Old Joe’s gone fishing” was given a lyrically strong, confident rendition which successfully showed off his attractive voice.”

Opera Wire, July 2022

“Alex Otterburn a sharp-suited and clarion-voiced Demetrius”

(Opera Today, July 2021)

“Lastly as a sort of closing nocturne, we have Rachmaninov’s In the Silent Night, a slightly strange choice for the final song but I have no doubts about Alex Otterburn’s performance, his sense of line and the way he brings out the underlying melancholy whilst allowing the moments of unbridled passion to appear.”

(Planet Hugill, July 2021)

“The compelling Alex Otterburn was a vicious Moralès”

(Opera Magazine, April 2020)

“Alex Otterburn, a ENO Harewood Young Artist, gave a career defining performance as Pluto, effortlessly charming, devilish and able to fill the London Coliseum with personality whether singing or speaking. He showed how it should be done, this Pluto combined bad behaviour, with wit and charm.”

(Planet Hugill, Oct 2019)

“Alex Otterburn’s razor-edged Morales stood out among the smaller roles.”

(The Guardian, January 2020)

“Alex Otterburn’s Pluto ruled the stage in whatever guise the character adopted.”

(Opera Magazine, December 2019)

“Alex Otterburn makes a delightfully flamboyant Pluto.”

(Financial Times, November 2019)

“Alex Otterburn’s campy, confident Pluto in disguise, looking jolly pleased with himself – as he should do, having managed to pull with that haircut.”

(The Guardian, October 2019)

“With only the swaggering Alex Otterburn looking as if he enjoys his role as the devilish Pluto, masquerading as the shepherd Aristaeus to seduce the all-toowilling Eurydice.”

(Hugh Canning, Sunday Times, October 2019)

“the standout performances come from… Alex Otterburn as Hel Helson, whose baritone is strong, assertive and really delivers on all fronts”

(Music OMH, May 2019)

“Alex Otterburn makes a notable Coliseum debut as kindly Squibby from the knacker’s yard.”

(The Telegraph, April 2019)

“Alex Otterburn as Eddy, a baritone just starting out on his career, was a chip off the old parental blocks. Vocally, he was just as rock solid, albeit with a lighter, youthful timbre to his voice. Rubber-faced and acrobatic, he bounced about the stage in warm-up suits, somehow managing to come off brave and lovable, not just funny. He was tragic as well, gouging his eyes out by splashing red paint on his face. It was one of those tour-de-force performances that leave you breathless”

(Seen and Heard, December 2018)

“Alex Otterburn with quiet charisma and a doughy, swiftly changeable face”

(New York Times, December 2018)

“With his twisted smile and never-quite-trustworthy smarts, Alex Otterburn makes the perfect Eddy. His powerful baritone rises to the considerable challenges of Turnage’s score, nailing top notes with never a hint of discomfort. But he’s also a fine actor, able to deliver spoken text – not always an opera singer’s forte – with a rare intelligence. He captures nicely Eddy’s path from uncertainty to overweening confidence, and you really believe in his ultimate crisis”

(Limelight Magazine, December 2018)

“Alex Otterburn was even finer, though, bringing buckets of character to his songs and acting them with impressive vocal drama”

(Bachtrack, August 2018)

“her words are blurry compared to those of Alex Otterburn, whose Harlequin leads a slick quartet of lairy yet world-weary cabaret performers”

(The Guardian, July 2018)

“Alex Otterburn’s outstanding Harlequin leads a grungy crew of comedians”

(Classical Source, July 2018)

“The quartet of comedians sounded super, anchored by the youthful Harlequin of Alex Otterburn”

(Seen and Heard, April 2018)

“Alex Otterburn, one of Scottish Opera’s Emerging Artists last season, gave an outstanding performance as Eddy, a magnetic stage presence with a striking voice, arriving awkwardly onstage in his bright red tracksuit, eyeballing the audience in silent menace before launching into his story, exploding in a mixture of song and spoken word with generous lashings of street vernacular.”

(Bachtrack, February 2018)

“Alex Otterburn bestrides the stage as Eddy. He embodies the character’s myriad contradictions with vigour and restless energy, but also a humanity that endears him to us. Not only does he throw himself into the smut and the swearing, but he retains a distinctive lyricism and beauty to his voice that evokes sympathy for his plight, and he thoroughly deserved his roof-raising ovation at the end.”

(Seen and Heard, February 2018)

“And there was Otterburn as Eddy: an utterly magnetic monster, spitting out the spoken text one minute, singing with an eerie, yearning sweetness and moving with an almost balletic physical agility the next. Controlled and compelling, he was described in the programme as a ‘Scottish Opera Emerging Artist’. I’d say he’s emerged.”

(The Spectator, August 2017)

“Alex Otterburn ’s star turn as Eddy (Berkoff and Turnage’s Oedipus), meanwhile, is a canny study in casual Cockney racism and everyday psychopathy.”

(Financial Times, August 2017)

“Alex Otterburn is magnetic as Eddy. The first thing he does is eyeball us in intense silence; this is a performer with serious stage presence and a voice to match. Anyone who saw Marcus Farnsworth in the role will forever have that potency etched into their retinas, but Otterburn makes it his own, cocksure, vulnerable and believable.’

(The Guardian, August 2017)

“It’s a very strong cast none the less, headed by young baritone Alex Otterburn as an aptly swaggering, needy Eddy”

(The Telegraph, August 2017)

“Alex Otterburn (a recent graduate from the Royal Academy of Music) gave a performance of searing intensity as Eddy, singing with blazing conviction and inhabiting his uncouth and aspiring character with complete ease.”

(Classical Source, August 2017)

“For Scottish Opera Emerging Artist Alex Otterburn in particular, the central role of Eddy is a huge achievement.”

(Herald Scotland, August 2017)

“suavity and ring were the hallmark of Alex Otterburn, an on-the-ball Guglielmo whose eyes filled with tears in the final scene.”

(Opera Magazine, May 2017)

“The extravagant sashaying of the hip-flask-addicted John Styx (a terrific account by the baritone Alex Otterburn, a 2014 International Opera Awards bursary winner)”

(Opera Magazine, April 2017)

“Alex Otterburn impressed as the put-upon John Styx, a classy baritone with a lovely quality to his voice in his Song of the King of Boeotia.”

(Bachtrack, February 2017)

“Otterburn proved a master of physical theatre, tripping, lolling and hopak-ing with oafish ineptitude.”

(Opera Today, March 2016)

“There’s fine comedy from Alex Otterburn’s drunken Cossack Kalenik.”

(The Express, March 2016)

“It’s Alex Otterburn in the role of Father who shines; in possession of a powerful voice, he is onstage for too brief a time.”

(Broadway Baby, April 2015)

“There is a firm beautiful voice in the making in Alex Otterburn, who negotiated Don Giovanni and the Count in two of the four Mozart excerpts with impressive confidence. An excellent impression — again promises good stuff for the future.”

(Brian Dickie Blog, October 2014)