Singer

Andrew Ashwin Don Giovanni Lismore
Andrew Ashwin as Don Giovanni, Lismore 2011

EDUCATOR      SINGER

Andrew Ashwin has so-far enjoyed a twenty-year professional singing career, a decade of which was spent on the international opera circuit. He has performed operas, concerts, galas and recitals across the UK, Europe, and further afield. His versatile lyric baritone voice and commanding stage presence delighted audiences in many operatic masterpieces ranging from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries.

Operatic career highlights include the title role in the Austrian premiere of Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave, to high critical acclaim, Junius in a radical new production of The Rape of Lucretia with the Frankfurt Opera, Mackheath in The Beggar’s Opera in Zurich, the title role in Don Giovanni at the Lismore Festival, Ireland, Danilo in La Veuve Joyeuse in Montpellier, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Grange Park Opera, Dr Malatesta with Opera Theatre Company, Ireland, Schaunard in La Bohème in Dessau, Germany, and two roles in Mexico City: Billy in Weill’s Mahagonny Songspiel, and the title role in Milhaud’s Les Malheurs d’Orphee.

Other operatic outings include Ercole/Oreste in Cavalli’s Il Giasone with Vlaamse Opera, Belgium, Maximillian in Candide, also at Vlaamse Opera, Mercutio in Gounod’s Roméo et Juliette with Opera Ireland, Angelotti in Tosca, also with Opera Ireland, and Guglielmo in a tour of Cosi fan tutte in Switzerland and southern Germany. Andrew sang Svegliato/Notaro in Paisiello’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia in Zurich, as well as Perückenmacher in Ariadne auf Naxos in both Zurich and Berlin. Other ventures into the Britten repertoire include Novice’s Friend and First Mate in Billy Budd in Bilbao.

He has also taken part in a number of high-profile gala concerts in Switzerland, Germany, Belgium and the UK, singing operatic excerpts spanning all genres.

From 2008 to 2009 Andrew was an ensemble member of the Deutsche Oper, Berlin, where he sang many roles including Morales, Marullo, Marchese d’Obigny, Le Mouton (in the German premiere of Respighi’s Marie Victoire) and Papageno for a children’s production of Die Zauberflöte.

Outside Europe Andrew has sung in concerts and recitals in Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia. He has returned to Mexico City a number of times to sing solo works by Bach, Ravel, Poulenc, and Satie.

Andrew is equally at home on the oratorio and recital circuit. He has sung much of the oratorio repertoire, particularly that of Handel, Bach, Mozart and Haydn. Notable highlights include Vaughan William’s A Sea Symphony at The Sage Centre, Gateshead, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem in Durham Cathedral, Bach’s Magnificat in Cadogan Hall, London, and Monteverdi’s Vespers at St John’s, Smith Square.

As a recitalist Andrew has explored songs of the English, German and French tradition in detail, and has also undertaken the larger-scale works in concert, such as Schumann’s Dichterliebe, Schubert’s Winterreise, Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, and numerous English song cycles.

Andrew has sung under the baton of many well-known conductors, including Sir David Willcocks, Christoph von Dohnányi, Bernard Haitink, Yves Abel, David Temple and Paul Spicer.

Andrew has shared the opera and concert stage with singers such as Jonas Kaufmann, James Bowman, Catherine Bott, Jose Cura, Neil Shicoff, Matti Salminen, Roberto Sacca, Violeta Urmana, John Tomlinson, Nathan Gunn, James Gilchrist, Michael Spyres, Javier Camarena, Jacques Imbrailo, Stephen Costello and many more.

As a child in Newcastle, Andrew discovered music through piano and trombone lessons, before finding his voice in his teens. He went on to gain a Bachelor of Music degree at The University of Birmingham and was a post-graduate student at the Royal College of Music in London, studying with Russell Smythe. He attained the distinguished LRSM (Licentiate of the Royal Schools of Music) diploma with Distinction in 2004, and a further post-graduate diploma at the Vlaamse Opera Studio in Gent, Belgium. His then spent two years at the Zurich International Opera Studio, as a young artist.

Please visit the Media page for videos and audio extracts.

Andrew is represented by Fischer International Artists. Please click here for more information.