The British baritone Peter Sidhom, who was born to an Italian-Maltese mother and an Egyptian father in Ismailia on the Suez Canal, moved to England with his family when he was ten. After studying Modern Language, he completed his vocal studies with Hervey Alan and Josephine Veasey. Over the past three decades his international career has brought him to many of the world’s leading stages, from London, Paris, and Brussels to Chicago and San Francisco. Sidhom’s repertoire encompasses character baritone roles and select heroic parts. It is above all the role of Alberich in Wagner’s Ring cycle that has become his trademark in recent years. Sidhom has taken on the role at such venues as the Royal Opera House in London and San Francisco Opera, in Sydney, in Tel Aviv, and in concert performance with the Cleveland Orchestra under Christoph von Dohnányi. Other credits include Faninal in Der Rosenkavalier at the Opéra Bastille in Paris, the Teatro Real in Madrid, and Lyric Opera of Chicago and Scarpia (Tosca) at the Stuttgart Staatsoper, Michele in Puccini’s Il tabarro at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, and Paolo in Simon Boccanegra at the Glyndebourne Festival. Sidhom has also earned recognition for his performances in the operas of Benjamin Britten, including as Balstrode in Peter Grimes, Mr. Flint in Billy Budd, and The Traveller in Death in Venice. His most recent credits include appearances as Henry Kissinger in John Adams’s Nixon in China at the Châtelet in Paris and as Alberich in the new Ring production at the Opéra National de Paris. In the concert hall, Sidhom has worked with such conductors as Andrew Davis, Bernard Haitink, Richard Hickox, Charles Mackerras, and Antonio Pappano.
May 2013