Jacques Imbrailo

South African baritone Jacques Imbrailo was the winner of the Audience Prize at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World and he has gone on to become one of the most sought after artists of his generation. Much admired for his lyrical voice and charismatic stage presence, Jacques appears in the worlds great opera houses and concert halls with the leading conductors and directors of today.

In the 2022/23 season, Jacques will make role debuts as Yeletsky Pikovaya Dama for La Monnaie, Brussels and Chou En-lai Nixon in China for Teatro Real and his house debuts as the title role of Don Giovanni for Ópera de Oviedo, Ned Keene Peter Grimes for Opéra national de Paris and Horatio in Brett Dean’s Hamlet at the Bayerische Staatsoper, which he also recently performed at the Metropolitan Opera. Further into the future, Jacques looks forward to making debuts at the Hamburg Staatsoper, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and he will return to The Royal Opera House, Ópera de Oviedo and the Bayerische Staatsoper.

Recent operatic highlights include: his role debut as Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet for Washington Concert Opera; Valentin Faust in Baden Baden; Alphonse XI La favorite and Tarquinius The Rape of Lucretia at the Houston Grand Opera; Vincenzo Gellner La Wally at Theater an der Wien; Ned Keene Peter Grimes at the Teatro Real; Don Giovanni and Horatio in the World Premiere of Brett Dean’s Hamlet at the Glyndebourne Festival; Aeneas Dido and Aeneas at the Bolshoi Theatre and Opéra de Lille; he created the role of Joachim Messner in the World Premiere of Jimmy López Bel Canto at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and he returned to the title role of Don Giovanni at Perm Opera with Teodor Currentzis.

Throughout his career, Jacques has been particularly associated with the role of Billy Budd, making his role debut at the Glyndebourne Festival, and going on to give definitive performances of the role at The Royal Opera, Teatro Real, Dutch National Opera, Norwegian National Opera, the BBC Proms and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, New York. He has enjoyed great success with the role of Pélleas Pélleas et Melisande, appearing at the Opernhaus Zurich, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Opéra national du Rhin, the Royal Swedish Opera, Opera Vlaanderen, Welsh National Opera, Aalto-Musiktheater Essen and in concert performance with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Mirga Gražinyte-Tyla.

Since the very beginning of his career, Jacques has enjoyed a close association with The Royal Opera House where along with Billy Budd he has appeared as Il Conte Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro, Dr Malatesta Don Pasquale, Simon in the World Premiere of Miss Fortune, Albert Werther, Ned Keene Peter Grimes, Demetrius A Midsummer Night’s Dream and in the title role of Owen Wingrave.

On the concert platform, Jacques’ recent appearances include Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem with BBC National Orchestra of Wales and Nathalie Stutzmann; Britten War Requiem with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra and Marin Alsop; Berlioz L‘enfance du Christ with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and Robin Ticciati; Vaughan-Williams Sea Symphony with the BBC National Orchestra and Wales and Andrew Manze at the BBC Proms; James Macmillan A European Requiem for the BBC Proms, Jesus The Apostles with The Hallé and Sir Mark Elder at the BBC Proms and with the RSNO and Edward Gardner at the Edinburgh International Festival.

A committed recitalist, Jacques is a Founder member of The Prince Consort. He has regularly appeared at the Wigmore Hall and at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam. He recently released a CD of Sibleius and Rachmaninov songs with pianist Alisdair Hogarth.

Jacques is a graduate of the Royal College of Music and he was a member of the Jette Parker Young Artist Programme at The Royal Opera House.

Updated: 21/05/2023