tenor
The Dutch tenor studied in Utrecht and is a music graduate of the Opera Studio of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He completed his vocal studies with James McCray. He made his professional debut as Macduff (Macbeth) at the Nederlandse Reisopera in Enschede, followed by his debut in Rome as Cavaradossi (Tosca). Being a fest member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Duesseldorf he added dozens of important roles to his repertory, f.ex. Lohengrin, Florestan, Stolzing, Bacchus, Siegmund and Parsifal. He performed Parsifal in Strasbourg, Aegisth (Elektra), Laca (Jenufa) and Erik (The Flying Dutchman) at Stuttgart State Opera. It was at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, where he sang Max (Der Freischütz). At Frankfurt Opera, he appeared as Tannhäuser, Hermann (Pique Dame), Luigi (Il tabarro), Parsifal and Tristan (Tristan und Isolde). Some of the most renowned performances in Frankfurt have been his roles as Einsiedel (Hartmann: Simplicius Simplicissimus) and as Siegmund (Die Walküre). In season 2010/2011, he made his Vienna State Opera debut as Tannhäuser and performed the same role for his debuts at the Bayreuth Festival, at the Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona and at the Festspielhaus Baden Baden. He subsequently debuted at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan as Siegmund (Die Walküre) and at the Teatro Regio in Turin in the title role of Parsifal. In spring of 2012 Frank van Aken had to jump in at the Metropolitan Opera as Siegmund and made an overwhelming debut. Furthermore he received highest praise for his interpretatio of Russian repertoire as for his Alexej (Prokofiev: The Gambler) in Frankfurt. In the Italian repertory, he has performed Otello at the Oper Graz and in Frankfurt, followed here by Mauricio (Adriana Lecouvreur). He has been happy to work with famous conductors such as Kiril Petrenko, Daniel Barenboim, Edo de Waart, Lothar Zagrosek, Christian Thielemann, Franz Welser-Möst, Sebastian Weigle, Ed Spanjaard and Asher Fisch. He returned to Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona to perform Siegmund (Die Walküre) and appeared as Sergei (Lady Macbeth of Mtensk) at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in November 2014.
