Matthew Swensen
“
He was everything we wanted him to be: Matthew Swensen is an ardent and generous tenor - he was simply phenomenal.”
BBC World News
Praised by the BBC as an "ardent and generous tenor" and by Sir John Eliot Gardiner for possessing "one of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard," American tenor Matthew Swensen brings an instrument of unusual warmth, clarity, and flexibility to a repertoire spanning the Mozart stage, the Bach Passions, and the recital platform.
Eight productions at the Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino — under Zubin Mehta, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Daniel Harding, and Franz Welser-Möst — sit at the center of his career, alongside Wagner's Steersman with Jaap van Zweden and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, seasons in the ensemble at Oper Frankfurt, and appearances at Carnegie Hall and Teatro Regio di Torino.
The 2026/27 season brings his debut at the Opéra Comique in Mozart's Zaide under Raphaël Pichon, the title role in Handel's Judas Maccabaeus at Carnegie Hall, a recital tour of Italy, Così fan tutte with Kentucky Opera, and Don Giovanni with the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal.
CRITICAL
ACCLAIM & PRESS
“After a tightly conducted and briskly paced, traditionally structured overture, Matthew Swensen, as the Steersman, took the lead alongside Andreas Bauer Kanabas, who performed the role of Daland, his captain. Swensen has a beautiful, crystal-clear tenor that comes into its own in his small role. With perfect diction, he delivers a Steersman rarely heard: on the one hand, pure bel canto, but on the other hand, perfectly focused on the drama of his texts with understandable articulation."
OPERA MAGAZINE
FLYING DUTCHMAN IN AMSTERDAM