In 1985 Gerald Finley appeared in the Royal College of Music production of Le Testament de la tante Caroline as the notary Maitre Corbeau, and in La vera costanza the following year, where his "rounded bass and an aptness for conventionalised comedy made a vivid character of the rich fop, Villotto".
13 Facts About Gerald Finley
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Gerald Finley is particularly renowned for his interpretations of Mozart roles such as Guglielmo, Papageno, Figaro, Count Almaviva and Don Giovanni.
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Gerald Finley made his Salzburger Festspiele debut in 1991 and returned on several occasions since then, including as Count Almaviva in 2007 and 2009, Don Giovanni in 2011 and Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte in 2013.
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Gerald Finley made his New York City debut at the Metropolitan Opera on January 24,1998, as Papageno in Die Zauberflote.
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Gerald Finley has subsequently performed the title role of Don Giovanni, Marcello in Puccini's La boheme, and the title role of Rossini's Guillaume Tell at the Metropolitan Opera.
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Gerald Finley has created a number of roles including J Robert Oppenheimer in the world premiere of John Adams' opera Doctor Atomic at the San Francisco Opera on October 1,2005.
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Gerald Finley debuted at Wiener Staatsoper as Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro on June 3,2012.
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Gerald Finley returned for lead roles in the premieres of two important new productions: the Forester in Janacek's Prihody lisky Bystrousky in June 2014, and Amfortas in Wagner's Parsifal in March 2017.
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Gerald Finley has been critically praised in both opera and concert.
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Gerald Finley appears on a number of recordings, including several solo albums on the Hyperion label, including Bach cantatas, songs by Barber, Ives and Ravel, Schubert's Schwanengesang and Winterreise, Brahms's Vier ernste Gesange, and Schumann's Dichterliebe and Liederkreis.
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Gerald Finley was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2017 Birthday Honours for services to opera.
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Gerald Finley portrayed the knight Gurnemanz in an Eastertide production of Wagner's Parsifal at Wiener Staatsoper in April 2017.
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In September 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gerald Finley played the titular role in Bluebeard's Castle in a London Symphony Orchestra performance which was made available online.