Long recognised as one of the most innovative musicians of our time, American baritone Thomas Hampson has received countless international honours for his singular artistry and cultural leadership. His operatic repertoire comprises more than 80 roles, and his discography includes more than 170 albums, with multiple nominations and wins of the GRAMMY Award, Edison Award, and the Grand Prix du Disque.
Long recognised as one of the most innovative musicians of our time, American baritone Thomas Hampson has received countless international honours for his singular artistry and cultural leadership. His operatic repertoire comprises more than 80 roles, and his discography includes more than 170 albums, with multiple nominations and wins of the GRAMMY Award, Edison Award, and the Grand Prix du Disque.
This season, Hampson sings the title role in Adams’ Nixon in China at the Paris Opera under the baton of Kent Nagano, and will return to the role later in the season, singing excerpts from the opera with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Andris Nelsons at Symphony Hall, Carnegie Hall, and the Tanglewood Festival. He will also appear with the BSO as The Old Doctor in Barber’s Vanessa, again under Nelsons’ baton. Hampson ends 2025 with a star-studded Christmas Night Opera Gala at Carnegie Hall, with Francesco Lanzillotta at the podium.
On the concert stage, Hampson will join the NHK Symphony Orchestra and conductor Ryan Bancroft for Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn. He sings Schoenberg’s Ode to Napoleon with the Danish National Symphony Orchestra led by Fabio Luisi, and appears with the Zurich Chamber Orchestra and the Essen Philharmonic, both led by Daniel Hope. Hampson’s recital schedule includes Schubert’s Winterreise with accordionist Ksenija Sidorova at Verbier Festival, Bergen Festival, Kings Place London, and Tonhalle Zürich. He resumes his collaboration with pianist Wolfram Rieger, with a program of Mahler’s lieder, on tour in China at the Shenzhen Belt Road Festival, the Macau Festival, and Changsha Concerto Hall; the duo will also perform Winterreise at Baden-Baden Festspiele Haus. Later in the season, Hampson joins the Aspen Music Festival for an all-American program.
Last season, Hampson stage directed and sang Don Alfonso in a concert performance of Mozart’s Così fan tutte with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and repeated the role at the Bayerische Staatsoper. He starred in Barber’s Vanessa with the National Symphony Orchestra, joined a special concert celebrating American works with Renée Fleming and Denyce Graves, and starred as Bishop Edward Vergerus in Mikael Karlsson’s new opera based on Ingmar Bergman’s “Fanny and Alexander” at La Monnaie.
His concert schedule featured collaborations with the MDR Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Baden-Baden Philharmonic, the Würth Philharmonic Orchestra, and many others. He also sang the world premiere of Johannes Burgert’s Minute Piece with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, led by Dan Ettinger. Hampson and pianist Wolfram Rieger appeared in recital at the Brucknerhaus Linz, Palais Montcalm, and the Boulezsaal. He also performed Schubert’s Winterreise with accordionist Ksenija Sidorova at Het Concertgebouw, Konzert Theater Coesfeld, and Beethoven-Haus Bonn. Hampson served as Distinguished Visiting Artist in Residence at The mdw – University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
He is an honorary professor of Philosophy at the University of Heidelberg and an honorary member of London’s Royal Academy of Music. In addition to several Honorary Doctorates, he is the Kammersänger of the Wiener Staatsoper and Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the Republic of France, and an Honorary Artist of the Guangzhou Opera House. In 2017 he received the Hugo Wolf Medal, together with Wolfram Rieger. He is the co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Lied Academy Heidelberg, in 2003, he founded the Hampsong Foundation, through which he uses the art of song to promote intercultural dialogue and understanding. His international master class schedule is a continuing online resource of Medici.tv, the Manhattan School of Music, and The Hampsong Foundation livestream channel. Additionally, he serves as an Advisor for Opera for Peace.
