Michael Burt was born and educated in England, graduating with honors in Science from Bath University, then moved to the United States for private vocal study in New York. He made his professional debut in Caracas, and worked with orchestras and opera companies throughout the American continent. Assignments ranged from Basilio in Boston to Zaccaria in Rio de Janeiro; from Mosé in Philadelphia to Don Giovanni in Mexico City; from the Messiah in Salt Lake City to Mephistophélès in Los Angeles; from the Creation in Atlanta to the Verdi Requiem in Virginia; ... and Figaro everywhere (in this case, Mozart not Rossini!).
He returned to Europe for his first major Wagnerian role, Hans Sachs (Die Meistersinger) for English National North. Contracts with the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Hannover Staatsoper followed, for the title role in Der Fliegende Holländer, Zaccaria in a prize-winning new production of Nabucco, Pizarro in Fidelio, and the Four Villains in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, in French and German.
He next appeared as Wotan, Wanderer and Gunther in a complete Wagner Ring, co-produced by the Salzburg Kleinesfestspielhaus and the Graz Opera. The full Cycle was recorded "live", broadcast on ORF and other European television stations, and released on commercial Laserdisc. He has since sung Wotan and Wanderer roles in Berlin, Bologna, Düsseldorf, Liège, New York, and Nürnberg.
A series of new productions and revivals followed, in other European Opera houses such as Aachen, Barcelona, Hamburg, Liège, Ludwigshafen Pfalzbau, Luxembourg, Napoli, Madrid, Mannheim, Prague, Salzburg, Tel Aviv, and Vienna. Many of these were also personal rôle debuts: Boris (Boris Godunov) in Moussorgski's original version -- and in Russian; Cadmus (Bassarids); Daland (Holländer); Figaro (Nozze di Figaro); Filippo (Don Carlo); Gurnemanz (Parsifal); Heinrich (Lohengrin); Sarastro (Zauberflöte); and Scarpia (Tosca).
After his recent success as Gurnemanz for the Parsifal Wiederaufnahme in Mannheim, his next assignments are in Puerto Rico for Rienzi, and in the Koblenz Ehrenbreitstein Festival for Nabucco.
Michael Burt appears on CD recordings of Bakchantinnen by Wellesz; Henze's The Bassarids (Cadmus); Mendelssohn/Korngold Sommernachtstraum (Oberon); Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex (Créon); Gurlitt's Die Soldaten (Wesener); and Hindemith Harmonie der Welt. A complete Wagner Ring with Burt as Wotan and Gunther is available in Laserdisc/Video format from Nippon Gramophone.
May 2000
