Charles Workman is a versatile artist whose early career saw him in the forefront of Rossini and Mozart tenors and who has more recently garnered praise for his performances in dramatic and Heldentenor roles as well as 20th Century and contemporary opera.
Following early debuts at the Metropolitan Opera and other American opera houses, Workman moved to Europe in 1995 where he has performed to great success with its leading opera companies and orchestras, including the Salzburg Festival, Paris Opera, Royal Opera House London, Teatro alla Scala Milan, Vienna State Opera, Moscow Bolshoi, Teatro Real Madrid, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Berlin State Opera, La Fenice in Venice, and the opera houses of Geneva, Zurich, Lyon, Brussels, Munich, Hamburg, Rome, Naples, Prague, Tel Aviv, Warsaw, and others.
Recent performances include Herodes in Salome (Teatro di San Carlo, Naples and Teatro Massimo, Palermo), Nagg in Kurtag’s Fin de partie (Vienna State Opera), Laca Klemeň in Jenůfa (Teatro dell’Opera, Rome), Walter in Die Passagierin (Bavarian State Opera, Munich), Aegisth in Elektra (Royal Opera House, London), Yannakos in Martinů’s The Greek Passion (Salzburg Festival), Polonius in Brett Dean’s Hamlet (Bavarian State Opera, Munich), Malatestino dall’Occhio in Zandonai’s Francesca da Rimini (Deutsche Oper Berlin), Éléazar in La Juive (Hanover State Opera), the title roles of Les contes d’Hoffmann (Israeli Opera, Tel Aviv), La clemenza di Tito (Lucerne Festival and Salzburg), Il ritorno di Ulisse in Patria (Maggio Musicale, Florence) and Idomeneo (Teatro dell’Opera, Rome), as well as the roles of Boris in Káťa Kabanová (Teatro dell’Opera, Rome), Tempo in Handel’s Il Trionfo del Tempo e del Disinganno (Salzburg Festival), Alwa in Lulu (Hamburg State Opera and Vienna State Opera), Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos (Vienna State Opera and Bavarian State Opera, Munich), Paul in Die Tote Stadt (Hamburg State Opera and Meiningen State Theater), Edmund in Reimann’s Lear (Salzburg Festival), Nobile in the world and UK premieres of Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel (Salzburg Festival and Royal Opera House, London), Der Tambourmajor in Wozzeck (Grand Théâtre, Geneva), Albert Gregor in The Makropulos Case (San Francisco Opera), and the title role of La Damnation de Faust and Alviano in Schreker’s Die Gezeichneten (both for Opéra de Lyon).
Upcoming engagements include San Giovanni in Handel’s La resurrezione (Teatro dell’Opera, Rome), Nagg in Kurtag’s Fin de partie (Vienna State Opera), and Aegisth in Elektra (Bavarian State Opera, Munich).
Charles Workman is a graduate of the Juilliard School and is a citizen of Switzerland and of the United Kingdom.
July 2025 – for the most recent biography, please contact Bartosz Jakóbczak