Thomas Randle

Thomas John Randle (born December 21, 1958) is an American opera singer (tenor).

Background

Randle was born on December 21, 1958, in Los Angeles, California. He began his music studies in conducting and composition, however, he eventually decided to be a singer after he earned a scholarship to study singing.

Randle made his début with the English National Opera's The Magic Flute— an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. He performed it again at Deutsche Oper Berlin, Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Hamburg, New Zealand, and the Covent Garden Festival.

In 1994, Randle made his Royal Opera House debut as Earl of Essex in Benjamin Britten's Gloriana (directed by Phyllida Lloyd). The production was later released as a feature film for BBC Television.

He also played "Dionysus" in John Buller's The Bacchae (English National Opera), the world première of Peter Schat's Symposium (Netherlands Opera), and the world première of John Taverner's oratorio The Apocalypse (BBC Proms).

In 1997 and 2000, Randle created the roles of "Nunez" in Mark Anthony Turnage's The Country of the Blind and "Judas" in Harrison Birtwistle's The Last Supper of Birtwistle. He also played "Captain" in Wolfgang Mitterer's Marta (Opéra de Lille) and "Jack Twist" in Charles Wuorinen's Brokeback Mountain, the title role in Johann Adolph Hasse's Solimano (Innsbruck Festival and Staatsoper Berlin), and "Snaut" in Dai Fujikura's Solaris (an opera based on the novel by Stanisław Lem, with an English-language libretto by Saburo Teshigawara) at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées on March 5, 2015.

In 2001, Randle premiered and recorded Krzysztof Penderecki's oratorio Credo at the Oregon Bach Festival.

Randle's repertoire includes:

• Orlando in Joseph Haydn's Orlando paladino (Innsbruck Festival, Berlin)
• Henry Purcell's The Fairy Queen (Aix-en-Provence)
• Title role of Solimano in Johann Adolph Hasse's Solimano (Innsbruck Festival, Berlin)
• Ferrando in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Così fan tutte (Geneva, Brussels)
• Don Ottavio in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni (Munich, Los Angeles)
• Title role of "Idomeneo" in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Idomeneo (Scottish Opera)
• Bénédict in Hector Berlioz's Béatrice et Bénédict (Welsh National Opera)
• Pelléas in Claude Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande (Paris, London)
• Leoš Janáček's Katya Kabanova (Washington National Opera)
• Tom Rakewell in Igor Stravinsky's The Rake’s Progress (Theater of the Champs-Elysées, Amsterdam, Lausanne, Bordeaux)
• Title role in Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes (Antwerp)
• Earl of Essex in Benjamin Britten's Gloriana
• Title role of Johnny Inkslinger in Benjamin Britten's Paul Bunyan
• Achilles in Michael Tippett's King Priam (English National Opera, Reisopera)
• The Fool in Harrison Birtwistle's Gawain (Royal Opera House)
• Števa in Leoš Janáček's Jenůfa (ENO and Opéra de Lille)
• Admète in Alceste (an opera by Christoph Willibald Gluck from 1767) (at Teatro Real, Madrid, Spain)
• Don José in Georges Bizet's Carmen (NBR New Zealand Opera)

Recordings

• Title role in George Frideric Handel's Samson (Harry Christophers/Collins Classics)
• Ralph Vaughan Williams' A Cotswold Romance (London Symphony Orchestra/Richard Hickox/Chandos)
• Orchestral works by Luigi Nono (EMI)

Misc

Randle also appeared as "Molqui" in the film version of John Adams' Death of Klinghoffer for Channel 4 (2003, directed by Penny Woolcock with a screenplay by Alice Goodman.) In 2006, he was seen playing "Monostatos" in the film version of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's The Magic Flute. The film was directed by Kenneth Branagh.