From Ireland, Paul McNamara is an honours music graduate of University College, Cork. He has been the recipient of many prizes and awards, including the Opera scholarship of the Royal College of Music in London and the Bayreuth Bursary of the British Wagner Society. Furthermore he was one of eight finalists in Seattle Opera's inaugural International Wagner Competition 2006.
From Ireland, Paul McNamara is an honours music graduate of University College, Cork. He has been the recipient of many prizes and awards, including the Opera scholarship of the Royal College of Music in London and the Bayreuth Bursary of the British Wagner Society. Furthermore he was one of eight finalists in Seattle Opera's inaugural International Wagner Competition 2006.
Currently based in Berlin, he has sung in several German theatres including Kiel, Neustrelitz, Darmstadt, Weimar, Wiesbaden and Chemnitz, while recent notable successes have included his critically acclaimed début at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Braunfels's Szenen aus dem Leben der Heilige Johanna and the title role in Wagner's TANNHAUSER at the Mainfranken Theater Würzburg. Elsewhere he has appeared at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, Opera Ireland, Cape Town Opera, at the Janácek Festival in Brno and at the Opera Lesna in Sopot (Poland), as well as at the festivals in Batignano, Buxton, Aldeburgh and Covent Garden.
In addition to Wagner's Erik, Loge, Tannhäuser, Tristan and Parsifal, McNamara's extensive repertoire encompasses roles such as Mozart's Idomeneo, Max in Weber's DER FREISCHUTZ, Lenski in Tchaikovsky's EUGENE ONEGIN, Canio in Leoncavallo's PAGLIACCI, Barinkay in Johann Strauss's DER ZIGEUNERBARON, the Prince in Dvorák's RUSALKA, Bacchus in Strauss's ARIADNE AUF NAXOS, Tichon in Janácek's KATA KABANOVA, Guido Bardi in Zemlinsky's EINE FLORENTINISCHE TRAGODIE, the Tambourmajor in Berg's WOZZECK, and Harold Mitchell in André Previn's A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE.
Also a keen recitalist and concert singer, in December 2001 he made his début at the Berlin Philharmonie singing Finzi's cantata Dies Natalis with the Deutsches Kammerorchester. Other concert engagements include appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, the Neubrandenburger Philharmonie, the SWR-Rundfunkorchester and the Stavangar Symfoniorkester.
