Elgan Llŷr Thomas

2017/18 English National Opera Harewood Artist, Elgan Llŷr Thomas made his ENO début at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre as Prologue/Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw and performed the role of Johnny Inkslinger in Britten’s Paul Bunyan at Wilton’s Music Hall as part of the ENO Studio Live Series. He made his stage début at the London Coliseum this season as Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor for ENO. He recently made his house debut at Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia for Opéra de Bordeaux and his role début as Tom Rakewell in a semi-staged performance of The Rake’s Progress with the Equilibrium Young Artists conducted by founder and soprano, Barbara Hannigan at the Klara Festival in Brussels. 

Last season he made his house début as Rossini’s Almaviva at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Paris and his role début as Brighella in Ariadne auf Naxos for Scottish Opera and Opera Holland Park. He also made his role début as Ernesto in Don Pasquale at the Mananan International Festival of Music and the Arts on the Isle of Man. Future plans include further performance as Tom Rakewell with Equilibrium Artists at the Ojai Festival in California and at the Aldeburgh Festival in the UK. He will also make his role debut as Nanki-Poo in The Mikado for ENO and perform the role of Dr. Richardson in the European Premiere of Missy Mazzoli’s Breaking the Waves for Scottish Opera in a co-production with Opera Ventures and Houston Grand Opera in association with Bristol Old Vic. 

In 2016, Elgan joined Scottish Opera as an Emerging Artist and made his company and role début as Nemorino in their touring production of The Elixir of Love. A graduate of the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester and London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London, Elgan’s operatic roles include Spoletta in a semi-staged concert performance of Tosca at the 2017 Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod with the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera, Sir Bryn Terfel and Kristine Opolais; Lindoro in The Italian Girl in Algiers and Count Almaviva in Il Barbiere di Siviglia for the Mananan International Festival; Fenton in a semi-staged performance of Falstaff with the Cambridge Philharmonic Society; Titorelli/Flogger/Berthold in The Trial for Scottish Opera and he has covered the roles of Lensky in Eugene Onegin, Binet in Vert-Vert and Selimo in Maometto Secondo for Garsington Opera. Other operatic performances include Florindo in Le donne curiose and Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama; Title Role in Albert Herring and Lampwick in The Adventures of Pinocchio for the Royal Northern College of Music and Johnny Inkslinger in the Welsh National Youth Opera’s Britten Centenary production of Paul Bunyan.

On demand on the concert platform, Elgan has performed in a Gala Concert with the Xi’an Symphony Orchestra in China; Orbin in Elgar’s Caractacus with the Opera North Orchestra, conducted by Martyn Brabbins (also recorded for Hyperion); Sir Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man, Mass for Peace with the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by the composer at Liverpool’s Philharmonic Hall; Tippett’s A Child of our Time at the Dartington International Summer Festival, conducted by Paul McCreesh and a concert with Sir Bryn Terfel at Bangor University. Future engagements include Mozart’s Requiem with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Barbara Hannigan at the DR Koncerthuset, Copenhagen and the Philharmonie in Paris.

Elgan is a recipient of a 2017/18 Opera Awards Foundation Bursary. Other awards include the 2015 Stuart Burrows International Voice Award; the Kerry-Keane Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2015 Les Azuriales Opera Young Artists programme in Nice and the 2012 Clonter Opera Prize. He has also had considerable success at the National Eisteddfod of Wales and during his first year at the RNCM, he represented the College at the 2009 Kathleen Ferrier Bursary Award and won the Elsie Thurston Prize. He is one of the first recipients of a Study Award from the Bryn Terfel Foundation.

Elgan is a familiar face on Welsh language television channel, S4C and performed a duet with Sir Bryn Terfel on his 2010 Christmas TV show, Nadolig Bryn Terfel.

He has released an album of Welsh Songs called Llwybrau’n Cân on the SAIN label and in 2017 recorded songs by Gareth Glyn on the album Caneuon Gareth Glyn, again for SAIN.

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Opera

Lucia di Lamermoor

Paul Bunyan

The Turn of the Screw

The Trial

The Elixir of Love

Madama Butterfly

The Rape of Lucretia

Le Donne Curiose

Paul Bunyan

Macbeth

Albert Herring

Concerts / Recitals