Brian Asawa | pl

In 1991, Brian Asawa's career was launched when he became the first countertenor to win the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He was the first countertenor Adler Fellow for San Francisco Opera, became the first countertenor to win the Placido Domingo "Operalia" International Opera Competition. He was also awarded Seattle Opera's Artist of the Year Award for his portrayal of Arsamene in Handel's Xerxes.

Since 1993 he has appeared in opera houses world wide singing signature roles such as Tolomeo for Seattle Opera, Metropolitan Opera, Bordeaux Opera, Opera Australia, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Paris Opera at Palais Garnier, Madrid's Teatro Real, Barcelona's Gran Teatre del Liceu, New Israeli Opera, and Hamburg Staatsoper. Other roles include: Prince Orlofsky in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus for San Francisco Opera and San Diego Opera; Arsamene for Los Angeles, Cologne, and Santa Fe Operas, and Grand Théâtre de Genève; Belize in Peter Eotvos's Angels in America; Mascha in Eotvos's Tri Sestri and Ottone in Monteverdi's L'Incoronazione di Poppea for Hamburg, the last also for Glimmerglass Opera; Nero in Poppea for Opera Australia; Endimione in Cavalli's La Calisto in Brussels; Fyodor in Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov for Nederlandse Opera and Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona; Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice for Nederlandse Opera; David in Handel's Saul for Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich; Oberon in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream for San Francisco and Houston Grand Operas and Teatro di San Carlo in Napoli; and Baba the Turk in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress for Swedish Television One and San Francisco Opera.

Most recently, he has appeared as Farnace in Mozart's Mitridate at Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels.

Future engagements include Tolomeo in Handel's Giulio Cesare at Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels, Tolomeo in Handel's Giulio Cesare at Netherlands Opera, Tolomeo in Handel's Giulio Cesare at Florida Grand Opera, Fyodor in Mussorgsky's Boris Gudonov in the highly acclaimed Willy Decker production for Netherlands Opera, and Prince Gogo in Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre for Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels and Le Grand Macabre, Opera de Lille, France.

His discography includes solo cds ranging from Elizabethan lute songs to song cycles by Ned Rorem. Operatic recordings include Farnace in Mozart's Mitridate for Decca, Oberon in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream for London, and Arsamenes in Handel's Xerxes for Conifer. He also appears in Handel's Messiah for Deutsche Grammaphon.


.