“...Greenhalgh’s smouldering baritone added no end of dark and poetic passion through some magnificently modulated singing.”
Baritenor Tobias Greenhalgh has established himself as a compelling young singing actor, who Opera News claimed was "so clearly headed for success." He was featured on WQXR’s 40 Under 40: A New Generation of Superb Opera Singers list. Tobias has also established himself as one of his generation’s finest ring announcers for combat sports. He will appear in Season 2 of the hit MMA drama on Netflix, La Cage, which reached #1 among non‑English series on Netflix for a period of time. He was the recipient of the Rising Star Award from the Martial Arts Association International and serves as the regular ring announcer for Levels Fights League, Holland’s premiere MMA promotion, as well as multiple promotions across Germany. Additionally, Tobias was the moderator for the inaugural Knights of Bushido Hall of Fame gala, where he presented honors to film icon Cynthia Rothrock and the successor to Chuck Norris’ lineage. This season, Tobias returns as an ensemble member at the Aalto Musiktheater Essen, where his roles include Der Vater in Hänsel und Gretel, Ping in Turandot, Sonora in La Fanciulla del West, Maximilian in Candide, Ottokar in Der Freischütz, and Pirate Ken in the world premiere of Die Verzauberte Stadt.
Past roles in Essen have included Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Thom in the German Premiere of Missy Mazzoli's The Listeners, Freddy in My Fair Lady, Conte Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro, Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte, Ophémon in L’amant anonym by Joseph Bologna, Gubetta in Lucrezia Borgia, Nardo in La Finta Giardiniera, Valentin in Faust, Posa in Don Carlo, and the leading role of Tom Edison in the world premiere of Dogville (based on the film by Lars von Trier), which won the prestigious Deutscher Theaterpreis Faust Award in 2023 for ‘Best Staging’. He has also performed as Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, Morales in Carmen, Ottokar in Der Freischütz, Schaunard in La Bohème, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, Silvio in Pagliacci, Robert Hesse in Karneval im Rom, and Marco in Gianni Schicchi. Additionally, he presented a staged solo concert of Schumann’s Dichterliebe combined with recitations of Shakespeare Sonnets.
Other projects include his debut as Giorgio Germont in La Traviata at the Festival du Toûno in Switzerland, a return to the Theater an der Wien as Bussy in Christof Loy’s production of Zazá, which was released on Blu-Ray by Unitel Classica. He has also performed Silvio in I Pagliacci with Boston Lyric Opera, and played the role of Caliban in Sibelius’ The Tempest with the Oregon Symphony (alongside members of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival). Tobias sang the title role in Don Giovanni with both Virginia Opera and Baltimore Concert Opera, Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale with Opéra National de Montpellier (which played on both Mezzo TV and Medici TV), and Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus with Palm Beach Opera. He has also appeared in The Grapes of Wrath with Michigan Opera Theatre, Belcore in L’elisir d’amore with Opera Las Vegas, and a recital at the National Forum of Music in Wroclaw, Poland.
Other career highlights include performances of Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with the Glyndebourne Opera Tour, the title role in Dido and Aeneas at the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Cecil in Maria Stuarda and Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Theater an der Wien, and Riff in West Side Story at the Grand Teton Music Festival. He has also sung Leo Stein & Man Ray in Ricky Ian Gordon’s 27 with Mastervoices at New York City Center, and had two recent Carnegie Hall debuts performing Smyth’s The Prison with the Cecilia Chorus of New York, along with a recital at Weill Recital Hall. During his time in Vienna, Tobias collaborated with Czech choreographer Martin Dvorak to co-create a staged version of Winterreise, which he performed to critical acclaim in Vienna and at various venues in the Czech Republic.
On the concert stage, he has recently performed at the Berlin Konzerthaus, Sociedad Artistica Sinaloense in Mexico, and the Orgel Park Concert Series in Amsterdam. He has sung Bach’s Saint Matthew Passion with Soli Deo Gloria in Chicago, La Bettulia Liberata with Bach Consort Wien, The Druid Priest in Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht, and Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs with Saint George’s Choral Society in New York. Tobias has given recitals with Rochester Lyric Opera, the Teatro Sérgio Cardoso in São Paulo, the Intimacy of Creativity Festival in Hong Kong, the Make Music New York Festival, the National Forum of Music in Poland, and two solo recitals at the Arnold Schönberg Center of Vienna. He was presented by the Brooklyn Art Song Society in a recital of Wolf’s Mörike Lieder, joined the New York Festival of Song for three concert programs, and was a Schwab Vocal Rising Star at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. Additionally, he was a vocal fellow in the 2013 Toronto Summer Music Festival.
Mr. Greenhalgh is a graduate of The Juilliard School, from which he earned both his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees. In his final year at Juilliard, he sang Malatesta in Don Pasquale and the Ferryman in Curlew River, following previous performances of Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas, and The Voice of Pokayne in Davies’ Komilitonen!.
Tobias’s competition successes include winning the Grand Prize of the Riccardo Zandonai Concorso in Italy, Grand Prize in the Metropolitan International Music Festival Competition, 1st place in the Liederkranz Competition, 1st place in the Mario Lanza Competition, 2nd place and the audience prize in the Oratorio Society of New York Competition, 3rd place in the Hilde Zadjek Competition, 3rd place in the Gerda Lissner Competition, and 3rd place in the Nico Dostal Operetta Competition. Additionally, Tobias was a finalist at the 2015 Operalia Competition, and won career grants from The Lucia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, Giulio Gari Foundation, and Opera Index, Inc. Tobias was also nominated for an Austrian Musiktheater Award as Best Young Male Singer in 2016.
Tobias is also the co-creator of Operation Superpower, a superhero opera for kids that promotes an anti-bullying message from early school years. The program was featured in a PBS Newshour special on entrepreneurship in the classical arts.