Norwegian bass Jens-Erik Aasbø graduated from the Oslo Opera Academy in 2011 and has since been a member of the soloist ensemble of the Norwegian Opera & Ballet, where he can be heard in the current season as Gremin (Eugen Onegin), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Il Grande Inquisitore (Don Carlo), Dottore Grenvil (La traviata) and as Cesare Angelotti (Tosca).

In Oslo, he has been able to win acclaim in recent seasons with roles such as Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Gremin (Eugene Onegin), Il Commendatore and Masetto (Don Giovanni), Basilio (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Chief of Police (Lady Macbeth of Mzensk), Friar Tuck (Schwemmer/Robin Hood), 1. Nazarene (Salome), Zuniga (Carmen), Rocco (Fidelio), Raimondo Bidebent (Lucia di Lammermoor), Bonze (Madama Butterfly), Padre Guardiano (La forza del destino), Lieutenant Ratcliffe (Billy Budd), Father Trulove (The Rake’s Progress), Police Commissioner (Der Rosenkavalier), Mester Laurentius (Bræin/Anne Pedersdotter), Bartolo (Le nozze di Figaro), Sparafucile (Rigoletto) and Hunding (Die Walküre).

Jens-Erik Aasbø is also sought-after internationally as a singer, most recently making his house debut as Bartolo (Le nozze di Figaro) at Zurich Opera House and made his house and role debut as Veit Pogner in the new production of Richard Wagner’s Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen and as Daland (Der fliegende Holländer) at the Oper im Steinbruch in St. Margarethen (Austria). With the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra under Petr Popelka, he also made his debut as King Marke in a concert version of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde. Other guest appearances include Daland at the Spring Festival in Tokyo and previously at the Opera på Skäret in Sweden, Vodnik (Rusalka) at the Komische Oper Berlin, and Fasolt (Das Rheingold) and Il Commendatore at the Theatro Municipal de São Paulo.

Jens-Erik Aasbø made his debut at the Bayreuth Festival in summer 2022 as Fasolt (Das Rheingold), Reinmar von Zweter (Tannhäuser) and the 4th Nobleman (Lohengrin). In the summer of 2023, he returned to Bayreuth as Fasolt and Reinmar von Zweter, but was also seen in the new production of Parsifal as the 2nd Knight of the Grail. He also sang these three roles again at the 2024 Bayreuth Festival.