NEIL JENKINS
Tenor

Neil Jenkins was born in St. Leonard's-on-Sea, Sussex. He received his musical education as a chorister at Westminster Abbey and as choral scholar at King's College, Cambridge, completing his studies at the Royal College of Music, London. In 1972 he won the NFMS award.

Neil Jenkins has sung LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES, L'ENFANT ET LES SORTILEGES, MADAMA BUTTERFLY, DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE, OEDIPUS REX and SALOME for Scottish Opera, ORFEO and IL RITORNO D'ULISSE IN PATRIA for English National Opera, IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA, SALOME, DER ROSENKAVALIER, THE RAKE’S PROGRESS, Rev. Adams PETER GRIMES, Arnalta L’INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA, Shuisky BORIS GODUNOV, Father Confessor DIALOGUES OF THE CARMELITES, Iro IL RITORNO D’ULISSE IN PATRIA and Bardolph FALSTAFF for Welsh National Opera, THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN, EUGENE ONEGIN and LA FINTA GIARDINIERA, with English Music Theatre LA CENERENTOLA, DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE and PAUL BUNYAN for Opera North, a variety of roles with Kent Opera, including the title-roles LE COMTE ORY and IL RITORNO D'ULISSE IN PATRIA, DER GRAF VON LUXEMBURG for New Sadler's Wells Opera, the title roles PETER GRIMES and LE COMTE ORY for New Sussex Opera, WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE, HIGGLETY PIGGLETY POP!, Tchekalinsky THE QUEEN OF SPADES, Don Basilio LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, Prince/Manservant/Marquis LULU, General Sir Philip Wingrave OWEN WINGRAVE and Vitek THE MAKROPOULOS CASE at the Glyndebourne Festival, L'HEURE ESPAGNOLE, L'ENFANT ET LES SORTILEGES, DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE, Don Basilio and OWEN WINGRAVE and THE ENGLISH CAT at the Edinburgh Festival, RENARD for Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Arnalta L’INCORONAZIONE DI POPPEA and Witch HANSEL AND GRETEL for Opera Theatre Company, DREAM OF GERONTIUS at the Cambridge Music Festival,Britten SERENADE for Maidstone Symphony Orchestra and Arnalta for Buxton Festival.

Abroad he has sung THE CONSUL for Netherlands Opera and at the Israel and Madrid Festivals, ZAIDE in Venice and Florence, THE TURN OF THE SCREW and MAKROPULOS CASE in Berlin, COSÌ FAN TUTTE in Albi, IDOMENEO in Tours, OBERON in Lyon and Venice, THE ENGLISH CAT at the Alte Oper Frankfurt and in Italy, ELEKTRA, LE NOZZE DI FIGARO, L'HEURE ESPAGNOLE, L'ENFANT ET LES SORTILEGES, PETER GRIMES and BILLY BUDD in Geneva, BILLY BUDD for Lyric Opera of Chicago, Rev. Adams PETER GRIMES for Teatro Municipal Santiago de Chile, BETROTHAL IN A MONASTERY at the Wexford Festival, DER ROSENKAVALIER in Liege, Kalatav WAR AND PEACE for Spoleto Festival, Vitek THE MAKROPULOS CASE for Deutsche Oper, Berlin, WAR REQUIEM for the RPO and Britten SERENADE FOR TENOR, HORN & STRINGS in Winterthur.

Neil Jenkins is equally in demand as a concert singer and has sung with all the leading London and regional orchestras and the BBC. He is a regular visitor to the Aldeburgh, Edinburgh, Bath, Cheltenham and Three Choirs Festivals. Abroad he has sung in the U.S.A., Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Spain, France, Germany, Holland, Norway, Finland, Ireland and Iceland. Recordings include Kalatav WAR AND PEACE, Bach ST MATTHEW PASSION, Prince/Manservant/Marquis LULU (Sir Andrew Davis), Rev. Adams PETER GRIMES (Hickox), Pilot LA GIOCONDA (Bonynge), Guglielmo ELISABETTA REGINA D’INGHILTERRA (Masini), Don Curzio LE NOZZE DI FIGARO (Marriner) William HUGH THE DROVER (Groves), Schnittke 2^nd Symphony (Rozhdestvensky) and Bernstein’s A WHITE HOUSE CANTATA.

REVIEWS

"Neil Jenkins was a superb Herod, really singing the music instead of guying it, as has been known, but at the same time conveying the tetrarch's superstition and political cunning." Michael Kennedy, Sunday Telegraph

"The most complete performance comes from the Herod of Neil Jenkins. Jenkins bends every note, every phrase, through seemingly infinite shades of bluster, insecurity, and insinuation." Hilary Finch, The Times

"'Opera Now' readers would expect me to single out - and rightly so - Neil Jenkins as a decidedly Gothic Valzacchi" Graeme Kay, Opera Now

"Neil Jenkins contributes a masterly character-study of Goro, the marriage broker." The Observer

"Neil Jenkins' Monostatos provided some of the most enjoyable singing and certainly the clearest diction of the evening." Neil Mackay, The Guardian

"The old shepherd Eumaeus, one of the most wonderful smaller roles in this wonderfully well-supplied opera, is taken now by Neil Jenkins; he is a commanding Monteverdian (I remember with undimmed admiration his Kent Opera Ulysses in the late 1970s), and his focussed energy and disciplined passion light up the stage." Max Loppert, The Financial Times

"Neil Jenkins draws the character as well as the lyrical style of Johnny Inkslinger. A very well-judged performance." William Mann, The Times

Bach	ST MATTHEW PASSION Conductor: Willcocks	ASV
	CANTATA 131 Conductor: Steinitz	EMI
Berg	LULU (Prince/Manservant/Marquis) Conductor: A. Davis	NVC/DVD
Bernstein	CANDIDE (Merchant/Inquisitor/Prince Charles Edward Conductor: Bernstein	DEUT
	A WHITE HOUSE CANTATA Conductor: Nagano	DEUT
Britten	PETER GRIMES (Rev. Adams) Conductor: Haitink	EMI
Charpentier	LOUISE (Marchand de Habits) Conductor : Prêtre	Sony
Handel	ACIS & GALATEA Conductor : Marriner	DECCA
	WEDDING ANTHEM Conductor : Steinitz	EMI
Knussen	HIGGLETY PIGGLETY POP! (Cat-Milkman/Ash Tree) Conductor: Knussen	CASTLE/DVD
Lehar	COUNT OF LUXEMBOURG (Title role) Conductor: Wordsworth	TER
Mozart	LE NOZZE DI FIGARO (Don Curzio) Conductor : Marriner	PHILIPS
Ponchielli	LA GIOCONDA (Pilot) Conductor: Bartoletti	DECCA
Prokofiev	WAR & PEACE (Platon Karatayev) Conductor: Hickox	CHANDOS
Purcell	ODE FOR ST CECILIA’S DAY (1692) Conductor: Parrott	EMI
Romberg	THE STUDENT PRINCE (Von Asterberg) Conductor: Owen Edwards	TER
Rossini	ELISABETTA, REGINA D’INGHILTERRA (Guglielmo) Conductor : Masini	PHILIPS
Schnittke	SYMPHONY NO.2 – ST FLORIAN Conductor: Rozhdestvensky	BBC
Tippett	KING PRIAM (Achilles) Conductor: Norrington)	VIRGIN
Vaughan Williams	HUGH THE DROVER (Turnkey) Conductor: Best	HYPERION

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NEIL JENKINSTenor

NEIL JENKINS
Tenor