Charles Workman was born in Arkansas and is a graduate of the Juilliard School. He is a versatile artist whose early career saw him in the forefront of Rossini and Mozart tenors and who has more recently garnered praise for his performances in dramatic and Heldentenor roles as well as 20th Century and contemporary opera.
Following early debuts at the Metropolitan Opera and other American opera houses, Workman moved to Europe in 1995 where he has performed to great success with its leading opera companies and orchestras, including the Salzburg Festival, Paris Opera, London Royal Opera Covent Garden, Milan La Scala, Vienna Staatsoper, Moscow Bolshoi, Madrid Teatro Real, Barcelona Liceu, Berlin Staatsoper, Venice La Fenice, and the opera houses of Geneva, Zurich, Lyon, Brussels, Munich, Hamburg, Rome, Prague, and Warsaw.
Recent performances include the title role of Il ritorno di Ulisse in Patria (Florence Maggio Musicale), Tempo in Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (Salzburg Whitsun and Summer Festivals), Malatestino dall’Occhio in Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Hoffegut in Braunfel’s Die Vögel (Munich Bayerische Staatsoper), Alwa in Lulu (Hamburg Staatsoper, Vienna Staatsoper), Idomeneo (Rome Teatro dell’Opera), Tammu in Widmann’s Babylon (Berlin Staatsoper), Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos (Vienna Staatsoper and Munich Bayerische Staatsoper), Paul in Die Tote Stadt (Hamburg Staatsoper), Edmund in Reimann’s Lear (Salzburg Festival), Nobile in the world and UK premieres of Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel (Salzburg Festival and Royal Opera Covent Garden), Der Tambourmajor in Wozzeck (Geneva Grand Théâtre), Albert Gregor in The Makropulos Case (San Francisco Opera), and the title role of La Damnation de Faust and Alviano in Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten (both for Opéra de Lyon).
Upcoming engagements include Alwa in Lulu (Bucharest Enescu Festival), Hoffegut in Braunfel’s Die Vögel (Munich Bayerische Staatsoper), Boris in Káťa Kabanová and Evangelist in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion (both for Rome Teatro dell’Opera), and Porcus in Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (Madrid Teatro Real).
