In leading roles that range from Tamino to Tom Rakewell, Ferrando, Fenton and Nemorino, Matthew Swensen's compelling performances have taken him to Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Carnegie Hall, Oper Frankfurt, State Opera of Prague, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Theater Basel, The Rheingau Festival and more.
He was most recently praised by the BBC for his role debut as Fenton in Verdi's Falstaff in Florence as “Everything we could have hoped for; an ardent and generous tenor... simply phenomenal.''
The 2024 Season begins in the summer with Wagner’s Der Fliegende Höllander as the Steersman in his debut at the Teatro Regio di Torino and again with Jaap Van Zweden and the Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam later in September. He sings several performances of Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Allentown Symphony, the Rochester Philharmonic and on tour throughout Italy and Germany. He makes his debut with the Deutscher Symphoniker in Bruckner's Te Deum and again in Bach's B Minor Mass in Munich. He makes his role debut as Nemorino in New Orleans Opera's Elisir D'Amore, and reprises the role of Count Almaviva in Rossini’s Barbiere di Siviglia with Lyric Opera Kansas City. In April 2025 he will make his Canadian debut with the Montreal Symphony in a concert performance of Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte.
He opened the 2023 calendar year with his role debut in the title part of Stravinsky’s The Rake's Progress, which was his eighth production at Teatro del Maggio Musicale in Florence. He debuted the role of Don Gomez in Weber's rarely performed operetta, Die Drei Pintos, with the Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig. He later returned to his signature roles of Ferrando in Cosi fan Tutte and Tamino in Die Zauberflöte at Maggio Musicale.
“Matthew Swensen is so musical, the phrasing and the shaping of each moment is really special. But it is in the soft moments, like my late dear friend Montserrat Caballé, where the singing and storytelling is so magical.”
Zubin Mehta / Cosi Fan Tutte at Maggio Musicale 2021
“
One of the most beautiful voices I have ever heard - truly the best Fenton I could have asked for.”
- Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Falstaff at Maggio Musicale 2021
After graduating from the Juilliard School in 2017, he made his operatic debut in Theatre Basel's production of Mozart’s Lucio Silla, directed by the late Hans Neuenfels. In 2018 he joined the ensemble of Oper Frankfurt, making debuts as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, Camille in Die Lustige Witwe and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, among others.
In the spring of 2021 when Mr. Swensen joined Zubin Mehta in a production of Mozart's Cosi fan Tutte where he made his most important debut at Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. He instantly became a beloved figure at the company, and would later return to sing Fenton in Verdi’s Falstaff led by Sir John Eliot Gardiner, in concert performances with Maestro Mehta, Daniel Harding, and Franz Welser-Möst. Mr. Swensen is also a committed performer of Lieder and art song. He was the winner of the Best Duo of the Wigmore Hall Song Competition in 2019 with pianist and frequent collaborator Katelan Trán Terrell. They began their work together at the Eastman School of Music, where Matthew studied with Robert Swensen and Kathryn Cowdrick.
For a more up-to-date biography and more information, please contact General Manager Michael Benchetrit at Minerva Artists.
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“As Alberto, Matthew Swensen is sturdy in his high notes, which in their highest heights are also of great radiance.”
Online Merker / La Gazetta at Oper Frankfurt 2020
“
Dazzling Coloratura with great flexibility...
Swensen has a sweet toned lyric tenor voiced of tremendous beauty.”
Classical Review
Cosi fan Tutte in November 2019
CONCERTWORK PERFORMED SINCE 2020
Bach;
All Passions, All Arias, All Evangelist roles
have been performed.
Magnificat
Christmas Oratorio Arias and Evangelist
Brucker
Mass in F
Beethoven
Ninth
Missa Solemnness
Handel
Messiah
Haydn
Creation
Missa in Tempori Belli
Mozart
Schudigkeit des ersten Gebots
Requiem
Free Masons Cantata
Misero o sogno o son desto
Mendelssohn
St. Paul
Christus
Elijah
Lobgesang
Rossini
Petit messe
Cujus animam
Schubert
Mass in Bb