Dutch baritone Rick Zwart began his vocal studies at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam in The Netherlands where he studied with baritone Pierre Mak.

He then went on to do his Master of Music and Master of Performance at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama(London, UK) under baritone Robert Dean and later became a member of their highly regarded opera course.

As a guest performer at both the Dutch National Opera Academy and Dutch Opera Studio, Rick has performed the title role in Le nozze di Figaro, Don Alfonso in Cosi fan tutte (Mozart), Publio in La clemenza di Tito (Mozart), Aeneas in Dido & Aeneas (Purcell), and Superintendant Budd in Britten’s Albert Herring.

During his studies at GSMD he performed roles such as The Prince in The Cunning Peasant (Dvorak), Eustachio in I pazzi per progetto (Donizetti), The Barker/Understudy Geppetto in The Adventures of Pinocchio (Dove) and starred as the title role in Hans Werner Henze’s Ein Landarzt alongside singing the part of the Minotaurus in Henze’s Phaedra.

Rick is also a distinguished oratorio and lied singer having appeared as the title role in Handel’s Saul, in each of the bass roles in Bach’s St Matthew’s Passion and St. John’s Passion, and as the bass soloist in Faure’s Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, Mozart’s C-minor Mass, and Rossini’s Petit Messe Solenelle. Rick also appeared at the 2012 Oxford Lieder Festival and was a recitalist for the Dutch National Opera Lunch Concert series.

He has participated in masterclasses with Sir Thomas Allen, the late Tom Krause, Edith Wiens, Claron McFadden, Margreet Honig, Patricia McMahon, Roger Vignoles and Graham Johnson and worked with conductors such as Valery Gergiev, Dominic Wheeler, Ivan Törzs and Richard Egarr.

He was a prize winner at the 2013 Summer school of the Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst “Mozarteum” Salzburg and won both first prize and audience prize in their Humor in Musik competition.