Biography

Paul Groves’s 2016-17 season includes his return to the Opéra National de Paris for his role debut singing Alessandro Cesare in Cavalli's Eliogabalo and an engagement in his native New Orleans in the title role of Faust with New Orleans Opera. Concert performances include Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde with the Cleveland Orchestra and the Indianapolis Symphony and Stravinsky's Perséphone with the Oregon Symphony.

Highlights of recent seasons include his first performances in the title role of Wagner's Parsifal with Lyric Opera of Chicago, and appearances as Admète in Gluck's Alceste with Madrid's Teatro Real, Nicias in Massenet's Thaïs with Los Angeles Opera, and Pylade in Gluck’s Iphigénie en Aulide at the Theater an der Wien. Mr. Groves returned to the Metropolitan Opera last season for Berg’s Lulu, and was seen in the East Coast premiere of Jennifer Higdon’s Cold Mountain with Opera Philadelphia. He debuted in the title role in Wagner’s Lohengrin with the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo. 

On DVD, Paul Groves is featured in the Salzburg Festival’s productions of The Magic Flute and La damnation de Faust. His other recordings include Roger Waters’s Ça Ira (Sony Classics), an album of Ravel cantatas with Michel Plasson (EMI Classics), Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi with Donald Runnicles (Teldec Classics), The Abduction from the Seraglio with Charles Mackerras (Teldec), Alceste at London’s Barbican Center (Philips Classics), songs of Henri Duparc (Naxos), and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, under the baton of Seiji Ozawa (Philips Classics).

A winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions in 1991, Paul Groves is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera Lindemann Young Artists Development Program. He made his debut with the company in 1992 as the Steersman in The Flying Dutchman and has returned to perform the roles of Camille de Rossillon in The Merry Widow, Ferrando in Così fan tutte, Tom Rakewell in The Rake’s Progress, Lysander in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Belmonte in The Abduction from the Seraglio, and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni, among others. In 2006, he created the role of Jianli in the world premiere of Tan Dun’s The First Emperor. Mr. Groves made his San Francisco Opera debut as Fenton in Falstaff and has returned for performances as Ferrando and Belmonte. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 2005.

(April 2017)