Ashley Riches

British bass-baritone Ashley Riches read English at the University of Cambridge where he was a member of the King’s College Choir under Stephen Cleobury. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

A former Jette Parker Young Artist, his roles for the Royal Opera House include Morales Carmen, Mandarin Turandot, Baron Douphol La Traviata and Officer Les Dialogues des Carmelites. For the English National Opera, he has sung Count Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro, Schaunard La Bohème, Escamillo Carmen, and the Pirate King The Pirates of Penzance. Elsewhere, he has appeared as Silvano in Cavalli’s La Calisto at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich; Brander Le damnation de Faust for the Glyndebourne Festival; Claudio Agrippina at the Grange Festival; Don Giovanni, Harasta The Cunning Little Vixen, and Ibn-Hakia Iolanta for Opera Holland Park; Simon Peter in Schubert’s Lazarus in a new Frederic Wake-Walker production at the Potsdamer Winteroper; and Count Almaviva in Tokyo. This season he returns as Roucher Andrea Chenier at the Royal Opera House.

Highlights on the concert platform include Berlioz’s Lélio with Sir John Eliot Gardiner in Carnegie Hall, Bernstein’s Wonderful Town with the Sir Simon Rattle/London Symphony Orchestra, a European tour of Giulio Cesare and Agrippina with Christophe Rousset /Les Talens Lyriques, and Creon Oedipus Rex with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. With repertoire ranging from J. S. Bach to Michael Tippett, Ashley has sung with orchestras including the Academy of Ancient Music, Helsinki Baroque, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Gabrieli Consort, London Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Royal Concertgebouw orchestras, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, and the Basel Chamber Orchestra. Recent appearances include Angelotti Tosca with Edward Gardner/Bergen Philharmonic, Messiaen’s St Francois d’Assise with Ryan Wigglesworth/BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri with Daniel Harding/Czech Philharmonic. In 2023/2024 he sings Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with David Afkham/Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España, Schumann’s Requiem in California with Richard Egarr/Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Verdi’s Requiem with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and multiple Handel’s Messiah with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia and for the Glyndebourne Festival.

An accomplished recitalist, and former BBC New Generation Artist 2016-2018, Ashley has collaborated with pianists including Graham Johnson, Iain Burnside, Julius Drake, Joseph Middleton, Anna Tilbrook, James Baillieu, Simon Lepper, Gary Matthewman and Sholto Kynoch. This season he returns to the Oxford International Song Festival and Wigmore Hall.

He released his debut solo recital disc, A Musical Zoo, in 2021. His discography includes Purcell’s King Arthur with the Gabrieli Consort & Players under Paul McCreesh (BBC Music Magazine 2020 Recording of the Year), Wonderful Town with the London Symphony Orchestra under Rattle recorded for LSO Live and, most recently, Handel’s La Resurrezione with The English Concert under Harry Bicket.

Updated: 27/08/2023