Spotlight on Russell Thomas

Russell Thomas is American through and through, yet he sings Italian opera as to the manner born. At Lyric he's already starred in five iconic roles from that repertoire: Pollione in Bellini’s Norma (debut, 2016/17 Season) Manrico in Verdi’s Il trovatore (2018/19 Season), Cavaradossi in Puccini's Tosca (2021/22 Season),  the Title Role in Verdi's Ernani (2022/23 Season), and Radamès in Verdi's Aida (2023/24). Following a star turn as Florestan in Beethoven's Fidelio (2024/25), the acclaimed tenor returns to Lyric this fall as Canio — a role he debuted in Lyric's 2021 Emmy Award-winning film of Leoncavallo's Pagliacci. Chicago audiences will have the chance to hear Thomas take on the clown's iconic lament when the thrilling double bill of Cavalleria rusticana and Pagliacci returns for the first time in more than 15 years, November 1-23.

Thomas is a true spinto tenor, the category poised between lyric and dramatic. That means that a great many of the most passionately romantic roles in the repertoire are made for Thomas’s voice. It’s big, warm, and full, with an emotional pull that draws any audience into his orbit whenever he’s onstage.

This career has been built with tremendous care and intelligence. Once it became clear Thomas had a truly special instrument, he went from the Florida’s New World School of the Arts and the Florida Grand Opera chorus in his native Miami to the most prestigious young-artist programs in the country, culminating in his tenure with the Met’s Lindemann Young Artists Development Program.

In Thomas, the international operatic scene rapidly discovered a young tenor whose voice, musicianship, and versatility were ready for the major stages of the world. In addition to every important North American company, he’s starred with the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Palau de les Arts in Valencia, London’s Royal Opera House, and Oper Frankfurt. Stylistically speaking, his successes encompass everything from Mozart (La clemenza di Tito, Los Angeles, Salzburg, Amsterdam; Idomeneo, Salzburg) to John Adams (A Flowering Tree, Vienna, London).

Thomas’s ascendancy to the top rank of Verdi tenors has been a hugely exciting development in his career. One of the most eagerly anticipated role debuts in recent seasons has been his Otello, which he added to his repertoire in concert in Atlanta, subsequently singing it onstage in Toronto, Berlin, and Washington. With his triumphs in that role, as well as in Nabucco (Met, Seattle), Simon Boccanegra (London), Don Carlo (Berlin, Washington), Il trovatore (Cincinnati), Stiffelio (Frankfurt), La forza del destino (Berlin), and Aida (Houston, Lyric), Thomas is reassuring audiences that Verdi’s formidable tenor heroes will be in the best of hands for many seasons to come.

The hallmark of any Thomas performance — whether in opera, concerts, or recitals — is, above all, sincerity. He’s all about the music and his desire to share it with the public. His generosity onstage and his connection with the characters he portrays are matched by the sheer beauty of his music-making. From the moment he sings his first phrase, Lyric audiences are in for nonstop thrills.

See him onstage as the spurned yet smiling clown, Canio, in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, November 1-23. Looking for more? Hear Thomas in recordings of Lyric's Il trovatore, Norma, and Verdi Voices, streaming free online.