The renowned baritone James Maddalena commands a large and varied repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to contemporary opera. He first gained international recognition for his extraordinary portrayal of the title role in the world premier of John Adams’ Nixon in China, directed by Peter Sellars with Houston Grand Opera. Since then, Mr. Maddalena has appeared with many leading opera companies and Symphony orchestras: the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Washington Opera, Frankfurt Opera, English National Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Atlanta Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Opera Boston, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Frankfurt Opera, and Glyndebourne Festival Opera, as well as the Chicago Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, San Francisco Symphony, Brooklyn Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish Orchestra, Orchestra of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the London Symphony Orchestra. He is a frequent collaborator with director Peter Sellars and sang major roles in Sellars’ stagings of the Mozart/Da Ponte operas—the Count in Le nozze di Figaro set in Trump Tower, and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte—as well as his productions of operas by Haydn, Handel and John Adams.
Mr. Maddalena has recorded for Decca/London, BMG, Classical Catalyst, Nonesuch, Teldec, Sony Classical, Harmonia Mundi, and EMI. He can be heard on the Grammy Award-winning recording of Nixon In China (Nonesuch) and the Emmy Award-winning PBS telecast, now on DVD. His performance of Mark Adamo’s Little Women was recently in 2011 on Naxos DVD.