Biography

Praised by The Times and Opera Magazine for his ‘suave lyricism’ and ‘powerful, commanding presence’, British-Irish baritone Jolyon Loy makes his Royal Opera House debut in the 2022/23 season as Tarquinius The Rape of Lucretia in a co-production with Britten Pears Arts, directed by Oliver Mears and conducted by Corinna Niemeyer, with performances at Snape Maltings Concert Hall and the Linbury Theatre, Covent Garden.

Jolyon’s 2021/22 season included Mr Kallenbach (cover) Satyagraha English National Opera, Leone Tamerlano Cambridge Handel Opera, Don Alfonso Così fan tutte with the English Concert as a Garsington Opera Alvarez Young Artist & his Cadogan Hall concert debut with the ENO Orchestra. Highlights of 2020/21 included Figaro Le nozze di Figaro as an Opera Holland Park Young Artist, Peter Hansel & Gretel British Youth Opera and residencies at ENO, Opera North & Welsh National Opera with the National Opera Studio.

Previous roles include Apollo Semele with the Academy of Ancient Music, released on AAM Records, Stimme der Wächter Die Frau ohne Schatten under Valery Gergiev Verbier Festival, 1st Priest/2nd Armed Man Die Zauberflöte under Stanislav Kochanovsky, Sonora La Fanciulla del West Wexford Festival Opera, Aeneas Dido & Aeneas The Vache Baroque Festival, Schaunard La bohème Clonter Opera, Count Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro Berlin Opera Festival & Owen Hart in the UK staged premiere of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.

Concert & oratorio highlights include Handel’s Messiah with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra Symphony Hall, Bach St Matthew Passion & Ghost of Samuel Saul with Laurence Cummings Dartington International Festival, Valens Theodora with Christian Curnyn Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Bach Jesu der du meine Seele with Philippe Herreweghe Snape Proms, Britten Rejoice in the Lamb & Finzi Lo, the Full Final Sacrifice Aldeburgh Festival, Handel Dixit Dominus Wexford Festival Opera, Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music St John’s Smith Square, Bach B Minor Mass & Duruflé Requiem Glasgow City Halls.

Jolyon was a 2020/21 Glyndebourne New Generation Young Artist at the National Opera Studio in London, supported by The Countess of Munster Musical Trust, The Elmley Foundation & The Richard Van Allan Award, awarded to an outstanding male singer. He is an alumnus of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the Royal Academy of Music, the Verbier Festival’s Atelier Lyrique, the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme, the Opera Prelude Young Artist Scheme & the Glyndebourne Chorus. He sang as a choral scholar at Magdalen College, University of Oxford and as a boy chorister at Worcester Cathedral.

Jolyon was awarded 2nd Prize & the Bayreuth Festival Award at the 2019 Wagner Society Singing Competition at Wigmore Hall and was a semi finalist at the 2020 Hans Gabor Belvedere, the 2021 Evá Marton & the 2022 Veronica Dunne International Singing Competitions. He has performed in recital and participated in masterclasses at the National Opera Studio, London Song Festival, Verbier Festival, Dartington Festival & the Oxford Lieder Festival with Sir John Tomlinson, Sir Thomas Allen, Thomas Hampson, Bryan Hymel, Barbara Frittoli, Dame Sarah Connolly, Karen Cargill, Thomas Quasthoff & Dame Felicity Lott.