Wm. Clay Thompson

Ryan Opera Center Ensemble

Wm. Clay Thompson is sponsored by the J. Thomas Hurvis Endowment.

American bass Wm. Clay Thompson, a first-year Ryan Opera Center member, is a two-time District winner of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition and was a Semi-Finalist in the 2020 Fort Worth Opera McCammon Voice Competition. He recently debuted at Arizona Opera (Zuniga/Carmen) and the Metropolitan Opera (Octet Singer/Brett Dean's Hamlet). Thompson is a former participant in the prestigious Santa Fe Opera and Wolf Trap Opera young-artist programs. From 2017 to 2019, he was a Resident Artist at The Minnesota Opera, performing in operas of Mozart, Verdi, Massenet, Puccini, Jake Heggie, Kevin Puts, and Joel Puckett (the Comiskey work, The Fix, was a world premiere). Thompson has been featured at the Château de Versailles Spectacles (Suleyman Pasha/The Ghosts of Versailles, European debut), The Glimmerglass Festival (The Cunning Little Vixen, Silent Night, West Side Story, Noye’s Fludde, The Ghosts of Versailles, and La traviata) and Fort Worth Opera (Zuniga/Carmen and Raymond Buck/David T. Little’s JFK, world premiere), among other companies.

During the 2022/23 Lyric season, Thompson will be heard in Le Comte Ory (Lyric premiere), and Carmen.