The Scene
People
Adam Diegel
Korean American tenor Adam Diegel regularly earns international acclaim for his impassioned dramatic sensibilities, powerful voice, and for his classic leading man looks. From a performance as Cavaradossi in Tosca at Glimmerglass Opera, Opera News raved: “The opera became a showdown between Adam Diegel’s impulsive, shaggily handsome Cavaradossi and Lester Lynch’s fearsome, animalistic Scarpia… (Diegel’s) spacious, Italianate tenor…delivered a stirring ‘Recondita armonia’ and built ‘E lucevan le stelle’ masterfully from hushed intimacy to an unfettered cri de coeur.”
This season Mr. Diegel will make his Boston Lyric Opera debut as Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana and will debut with Opera Columbus singing Cavaradossi in Tosca, as well as a gala concert with Knoxville Opera.
The 2020-2021 Adam Diegel returned to the Pensacola Opera for Don Jose in Carmen as well as making his role and company debut singing Manrico in Il Trovatore with Opera Tampa, as well as joining New York City Opera in their Bryant Park concert series and debuting with Victoria Hall Opera in their concert series.
For the 2019-2020 season Mr. Diegel returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Froh in Das Rheingold. He made a role debut singing Narraboth in Salome with the Atlanta Opera, the Tenor soloist in Mahler’s Lied von der Erde with Park Ridge Civic Orchestra, debuted with Nashville Opera singing Pinkerton in Madame Butterfly and returned to the Lithuanian National Opera for Madame Butterfly.
In the 2017-18 season, Diegel reprised his critically acclaimed role as Cavardossi in Tosca with Palm Beach Opera and returns to The Metropolitan Opera in Norma and Madama Butterfly. Additionally, Diegel performed two of his signature roles throughout the world as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Opera Hong Kong and Palm Beach Opera and Don José in Carmen at San Francisco Opera, PORTopera, and Opera San Antonio. Additionally, Diegel sang the title role in Verdi’s Don Carlo with Lithuanian National Opera, Ruggerio in La Rondine with Opera Santa Barbara, Ismaele in Nabucco with The Metropolitan Opera, and the tenor solo in Verdi’s Requiem with Alabama Symphony Orchestra and Spokane Symphony.
Mr. Diegel made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Froh in Robert Lepage’s landmark production of Das Rheingold conducted by Maestro James Levine, and later reprised the performance under Fabio Luisi. Further appearances at The Met include Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly under Plácido Domingo and Ismaele in Nabucco under Paolo Carignani. He will return to the famed house in 2019.
Other notable recent U.S. engagements include: Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Atlanta Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Arizona Opera, Opera San Antonio, and Kentucky Opera; Ismaele in Nabucco at Opera Philadelphia; Cavaradossi in Tosca at Vancouver Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Seattle Opera, and Arizona Opera; Don José in Carmen at Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Florida Grand Opera, Arizona Opera, and Madison Opera; and Rodolfo in La bohème at Opera Omaha and Minnesota Opera.
Also in demand overseas, Diegel collects accolades from critics in Europe, Asia, and Australia. Of his performance in Carmen at English National Opera, The Guardian wrote: “The American Adam Diegel as José, tall and sturdy, looked the part of Carmen’s latest love victim and conveyed perfectly the pent-up anger of a feckless man who – we know from the original Merimée novel, but not the libretto – has already committed a murder…Diegel rose to the challenges of Acts III and IV.”
Other international appearances have included: Don José in Carmen in a new production at Opera Australia’s Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour; Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Lithuanian National Opera, The Savonlinna Opera Festival, and on tour in China at the Guangzhous Opera House in Anthony Minghella’s acclaimed production; Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur at The National Theatre in Budapest, where he later performed Cavaradossi in Tosca; and David Alden’s new production of Luisa Miller for Opéra National de Lyon.