“The Husband“ (tenor)
London 2019 (UK premiere)
The half-Japanese, half-Welsh tenor Hiroshi Amako was born in Tsu, Japan in 1992, moving to live in North Wales at the age of 8. After receiving tuition on both the violin and piano, he started singing lessons at the age of 15, and pursued his vocal studies whilst reading his Bachelor’s in music at Trinity College, Cambridge. Later he went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music, where he was taught by Ryland Davies and Iain Ledingham. During his time at the Academy, Hiroshi sang the roles of Bill (Flight), Pasquin/Silvio (Le docteur Miracle), Arbace (Idomeneo) and Damon (Acis and Galatea).
Since the 2018/19 season, Hiroshi has been a member of the International Opera Studio of Staatsoper Hamburg, where he has appeared in roles such as Priester (Die Zauberflöte), Borsa (Rigoletto), Sasha (Moscow, Cheryomushki) and Abdallo (Nabucco) to name a few. Here he has worked with conductors such as Kent Nagano, Christoph Gedschold, Carlo Rizzari, Stefano Ranzani and Paolo Carignani.
Hiroshi is also an avid performer of the music of J.S. Bach. In 2017, he was a finalist in the London Bach Society Bach Singer’s Prize, and was a RAM/Kohn Foundation Bach Scholar during his studies at the Royal Academy of Music, appearing as a soloist in many of their prestigious Bach Cantata Series concerts, working alongside renowned musicians such as Ton Koopman, Rachel Podger, Margaret Faultless and Johannes Prahmsoler. Hiroshi has appeared regularly as a soloist and as an Evangelist with the British baroque ensemble Amici Voices, notably as a soloist on their first CD of Bach Cantatas.
As a recitalist, Hiroshi has performed recitals in venues such as the Wigmore Hall and as part of the Oxford Lieder Festival. On the concert stage, he has performed as a soloist with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra under Simon Halsey, the London Philharmonic Orchestra under Hilary Davan-Witton, and with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra, both under Stephen Layton.
Comments
“This was my first experience singing an opera in Japanese, and a real privilege as a half-Japanese musician to perform a bilingual work with musicians both based in the UK and Japan.
It was very interesting to get to know such an interesting story, and amazing to put the piece together in location and watch how it all worked.”