Christopher Maltman

Christopher Maltman achieved global recognition after claiming the Lieder Prize at the 1997 Cardiff Singer of the World Competition. He balances commitments across opera productions, song recitals, and orchestral programs with equal commitment.

Born in Cleethorpes in England’s North East Lincolnshire region on February 6, 1970, Maltman first completed a biochemistry degree at Warwick University before turning to music in 1991 and enrolling at the Royal Academy of Music in London. His principal teacher there was Mark Wildman. He also received instruction from the septuagenarian Italian baritone Sesto Bruscantini and worked briefly with Thomas Hampson at the Brereton International Music Symposium. A decisive advance arrived in 1997 with his Lieder Prize victory at Cardiff. The next year brought the role of Raimbaud in Glyndebourne Touring Opera Company’s production of Rossini’s Le comte Ory and the title part in Britten’s Billy Budd at Welsh National Opera. Also in 1998, Maltman made his primary-artist album debut on a Collins Records release of vocal music by Gustav Holst.

His schedule intensified quickly in the new century. Maltman commands a wide repertoire that reaches from Mozart and bel canto opera through Verdi’s complete output into English 20th-century opera. He maintains particularly close ties to the Royal Opera in London, where he has sung some 15 roles, and to the English National Opera, where he joined the company roster. Appearances have taken him to additional houses throughout continental Europe and North America as well as in Britain. As a lieder singer he remains sought after both in concert and on disc, taking part in Hyperion’s complete Schumann and Schubert song cycles and in Deutsche Grammophon’s complete recordings of Beethoven’s folk-song settings. Orchestral engagements have included the London Symphony, New York Philharmonic, and Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg in works such as Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 (“Choral”), Britten’s War Requiem, and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music. He appears on many opera recordings and on more than 20 albums as featured artist for Hyperion, Wigmore Hall Live, and Signum Classics. In 2023 he joined the Erato label for a recording of Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg under John Nelson.