Vasily Barkhatov 
Aleksei Isaev
Thorsten Grümbel
Sergey PolyakovKünstlerdetails
TenorFrank van Aken  |
Biographie / biography
Dutch tenor Frank van Aken has established himself as a sought-after international tenor.
He studied in Utrecht and is a music graduate of the Opera Studio of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague. He completed his vocal studies with James McCray. He made his professional debut as Macduff in Macbeth at the Nederlandse Reisopera in Enschede, followed by his debut in Rome as Cavaradossi in Tosca. Being a fest member of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Duesseldorf he added dozens of important roles to his repertory, f.ex. Lohengrin, Florestan, Stolzing, Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos, Siegmund and Parsifal.
He was invited by Komische Oper Berlin, Theater Dortmund and Staatstheater Karlsruhe. He performed Parsifal in Strasbourg, Aegisth in Elektra, Laca in Jenufa and Erik in The Flying Dutchman at Stuttgart State Opera. It was at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, where Frank van Aken sang Max in Der Freischütz.
At Frankfurt Opera, where he was a fest member, Frank van Aken appeared as Tannhäuser, Hermann in Pique Dame, Luigi in Il tabarro, Parsifal and Tristan in Tristan und Isolde. Some of the most renowned performances in Frankfurt have been his roles as Einsiedel in Hartmann's Simplicius Simplicissimus and as Siegmund in Die Walküre.
In season 2010/2011, he made his Vienna State Opera debut as Tannhäuser and performed the same role for his debuts at the Bayreuth Festival, at the Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona and at the Festspielhaus Baden Baden. He subsequently debuted at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan as Siegmund in Die Walküre and at the Teatro Regio in Turin in the title role of Parsifal. In spring of 2012 Frank van Aken had to jump in at the Metropolitan Opera as Siegmund and made an overwhelming debut.
Furthermore he received highest praise for his interpretation of Russian repertoire as for his Alexej in Prokofiev’s The Gambler in Frankfurt. In the Italian repertory, he has performed Otello at the Oper Graz and in Frankfurt, followed here by Mauricio in Adriana Lecouvreur.
Frank van Aken has been happy to work with famous conductors such as Kiril Petrenko, Daniel Barenboim, Edo de Waart, Lothar Zagrosek, Christian Thielemann, Franz Welser-Möst, Sebastian Weigle, Ed Spanjaard and Asher Fisch.
Upcoming engagements in 2022 include Herodes in Salome at Auditorio Nacional de Musica, Madrid.
In 2021/22 he sang Aegisthe in Elektra at the Theatre du Capitole, Toulouse and Tristan in Tristan und Isolde at Nationaltheater Mannheim.
In the season of 2019/20 he sang Tristan in a concert version of Tristan and Isolde with Orquesta y Coro Nacional de España in Madrid, Herodes in Salome at The Atlanta Opera and Tristan in Tristan und Isolde at Nationaltheater Mannheim (cancelled due to Covid19).
Highlights of 2018/19 include a wonderful Shuysky in Boris Godunov at Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Laca in Jenufa in Athens and Herodes in Salome in Wiesbaden.
In the season of 2017/18 Frank van Aken was Egist in Elektra at Greek National Opera in Athens and performed Tannhäuser and Parsifal at Nationaltheater Mannheim.
In 2017 he sang Alexei in The Gambler at Opera Frankfurt. In Amsterdam he sang Tambourmajor in Wozzeck and at Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar he sang Otello.
Past engagements include among others his critically praised debut at Semperoper Dresden as Tristan in Tristan and Isolde and the title role in Strauss’ Guntram. He returned to Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona to perform Siegmund in Die Walküre and appeared as Sergei in Lady Macbeth of Mtensk at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in November 2014. In spring 2015 he came back to Frankfurt to perform Parsifal and in May 2015 he was in Concertgebouw Amsterdam. In December 2015 and January 2016 he was in Budapest with King Lear as Edmund. In May and July 2016 he sang in the Ring in Frankfurt Siegmund in Walküre.
Stand 02/2022
