Regarded as one of the most ele­gant and accom­plished bel canto singers on the opera stage today, tenor Gre­gory Kunde has impressed audi­ences in the world’s lead­ing the­aters with his sen­si­tive phras­ing, impec­ca­ble style, and dra­matic com­mand of the most demand­ing roles of the Ital­ian and French bel canto repertoire.

Hailed by crit­ics as a ris­ing young star, Gre­gory Kunde made his Euro­pean debut as Nadir in Bizet’s Les Pecheurs des Per­les in Nice, France.  Since then, he has become well known for his inter­pre­ta­tions of some of the most chal­leng­ing tenor roles.  Mr. Kunde has appeared reg­u­larly and with great suc­cess in the world’s most notable venues, includ­ing New York’s Met­ro­pol­i­tan Opera, City Opera and Carnegie Hall, Chicago, San Fran­cisco, Dal­las, Hous­ton, Paris’ Bastille, Chatelet, Opera Comique, The­atre du Champs Ely­see and Salle Pleyel, Amsterdam’s Con­cert­ge­bouw, Berlin, Munich, Dres­den, Buenos Aires, Milan, Rome, Naples, The Rossini Opera Fes­ti­val in Pesaro, Italy, Madrid, Las Pal­mas, Vienna, Zurich, Geneva, Athens, Tokyo, Syd­ney and many others.

Mr. Kunde has earned wide­spread acclaim for his per­for­mances of the most demand­ing tenor roles of the French and Ital­ian bel canto operas, includ­ing, most notably:  Arnold of Rossini’s Guil­laume Tell; Julian in Charpentier’s Louise; Des Grieux of Massenet’s Manon;  Nadir of Bizet’s Les Pecheurs des Per­les;  Elvino in Bellini’s La Son­nam­bula;  Fer­nando in Donizetti’s La Favorita;  the title roles in both Gounod’s Faust and Romeo in his Romeo et Juli­ette, Rodrigo in Rossini’s La Donna del Lago, Arturo of Bellini’s I Puri­tani,  Pirro in Rossini’s Ermione, and the title role of Rossini’s Otello. He is a favorite of con­duc­tors and stage direc­tors alike and has col­lab­o­rated with many out­stand­ing tal­ents such as Sir Richard Bonynge, Roberto Abbado, Ric­cardo Muti, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Michel Plas­son, George Prêtre, Sir Simon Rat­tle, Charles Dutoit, Sir Gra­ham Vick, John Nel­son, Sir John Eliot Gar­diner and Sir Colin Davis among others.

Her­alded as a bel canto author­ity, Kunde can now claim the music of Berlioz as his ter­ri­tory as well.  Shat­ter­ing old ideas of the heldentenor’s secure place in this French genre, Kunde has con­vinc­ingly brought his bel canto ele­gance to this music.  Under the direc­tion of John Nel­son, Kunde per­formed and recorded Ben­evenuto Cellini in con­cert with the Orches­tra Radio France (Vir­gin Clas­sics).  From that enor­mous suc­cess, he has gone on to sing numer­ous con­cert per­for­mances of La Damna­tion de Faust with Mae­stro Charles Dutoit world­wide.  And at Paris’ Theâtre du Chatelet, Kunde appeared in the chal­leng­ing role of Aeneas, for a land­mark stag­ing of Berlioz’ Les Troyens under the baton of Mae­stro John Eliot Gar­diner.  Since that time, Berlioz con­tin­ues to fig­ure promi­nently in the tenor’s future per­for­mance schedule.

He began the 2009/2010 sea­son as Rinaldo in Haydn’s Armida at the Con­cert­ge­bouw in Ams­ter­dam, then as Pol­lione in Bellini’s Norma with June Ander­son at the Bellini Fes­ti­val in the composer’s home­town of Cata­nia, Sicily.  He then trav­eled to Athens, Greece for con­certs of Gluck’s Alceste and then began 2010 in the title roles of two of Mozart’s opera serie; Tito in La Clemenza di Tito in Naples, Italy fol­lowed by Idome­neo in Brus­sels. He then con­tin­ued as Rodrigo in a new pro­duc­tion of Rossini’s La Donna del Lago along­side Joyce Di Donato in Geneva, Switzer­land fol­lowed by Berlioz’ La Damna­tion de Faust in Kuala Lumpur and he fin­ished the sea­son at the Chopin Fes­ti­val in War­saw, Poland as Pol­lione in Norma.

Mr. Kunde began the 2010–2011 sea­son as Donizetti’s Poli­uto for the Donizetti Fes­ti­val in the composer’s birth­place of Berg­amo, Italy then as Arnold in Rossini’s Guil­laume Tell in La Coruna, Spain.  He will con­tinue with a debut as Arrigo in Verdi’s I Vespri Sicil­iani with Son­dra Rad­vanowsky in Turin then to Lima, Peru for Verdi’s Requiem and onto Naples, Italy for more Verdi in Les Vepres Sicili­enne and then a return to the San Fran­cisco Sym­phony for Beethoven’s Missa Solem­nis with Michael Tilson-Thomas con­duct­ing.  Sum­mer of 2011 brings him to Taormina, Sicily for Bellini’s Norma.

His discog­ra­phy includes Bellini’s Bianca e Fer­nando (Nuova Era CD), Rossini’s Semi­ramide (Ricordi CD), Armida (Sony CD), Thomas’ Ham­let (EMI CD), a live record­ing fea­tur­ing Rossini Rar­i­ties enti­tled Di Tanti Pal­piti (Ricordi CD), the much acclaimed EMI CD record­ing of Delibes’ Lakme, Strauss’ Capric­cio (For­lane CD), a DVD of the Chatelet’s land­mark pro­duc­tion of the Berlioz epic Les Troyens (Opus Arte) named as Gramo­phone magazine’s DVD of the Year 2005, Berlioz’ Ben­venuto Cellini (Vir­gin Clas­sics CD) – win­ner of Gramophone’s pres­ti­gious Opera Record­ing of the Year 2005, a solo record­ing of Rossini arias enti­tled In Love and War (VAI CD), a live per­for­mance from the Edin­burgh Fes­ti­val of Rossini’s La Donna del Lago (Opera Rara), Busoni’s Dok­tor Faust (Arthaus DVD) recorded in 2006 along­side Thomas Hamp­son from the Zurich Opera, another highly acclaimed Ben­venuto Cellini (LSO Live CD) with Sir Colin Davis and the Lon­don Sym­phony and most recently, a DVD of the 2008 pro­duc­tion of Rossini’s Ermione (Dynamic) from the Rossini Opera Fes­ti­val.  Soon to be released: Rossini’s Zelmira (Uni­tel DVD) and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (Naxos).