Anglo-German tenor Kieran Carrel was born in 1996 and studied in Cologne with Christoph Prégardien before moving to continue his education at London’s Royal Academy of Music with Neil Mackie.
He will spend the 2022-24 seasons at the Deutsche Oper Berlin where, in addition to his role debut as Tamino, he will appear in a production of Bach St Matthew Passion as the Evangelist and sing the roles of Rodriguez in Don Quichotte and Jacquino in Fidelio.
Most recently he had a great success singing Rinaldo in Haydn’s Armida at the Bregenzer Festspiele and other previous opera roles have included Flute A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Contino Belfiore Mozart’s La finta giardiniera and Ferrando Così fan tutte, all at the Ryedale Festival. As a former member of Theater Bonn he has also sung Beppe Pagliacci and Lymphea La Calisto.
Kieran made his recital debut at the Pierre-Boulez-Saal in Berlin in 2019 as part of the Heidelberger Frühling Schubert Week with Thomas Hampson and Hartmut Höll and in the same year was a finalist in the Wigmore Hall/Independent Opera International Song Competition, together with duo partner Richard Gowers. He has since forged a strong relationship with both halls with recent Wigmore appearances including a Hugo Wolf Song Gala with Christoph Prégardien and James Baillieu; Haydn canzonettas with András Schiff and returns this season to perform Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music with the Nash Ensemble and to give his debut solo recital. He will also give an evening recital at the Pierre Boulez Saal and will join Graham Johnson for a recital at the Luxembourg Philharmonie. Kieran recently recorded a complete Brahms Lieder recording with Ulrich Eisenlohr on NAXOS for future release.
Recent concert performances include Evangelist Bach St John Passion with The English Concert and Kristian Bezuidenhout; a recording and performances of Wolf Italienisches Liederbuch and Schumann Dichterliebe with Ensemble Opus and Ralf Gothoni; and Bach Christmas Oratorio with Il Gardellino. This season he will tour Europe with Il Gardellino singing Mozart Requiem and record JH Rolle’s Die Befreyung Israëls with them, sing Evangelist St John Passion in Frankfurt and Schumann Das Paradies und die Peri, conducted by Karina Canellakis in Utrecht with the Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra.
Other concert highlights have included appearances with the Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and the Brandenburg Sinfonia in repertoire ranging from Handel Messiah, Mendelssohn Paulus, Beethoven Symphony No. 9 to Stravinsky Cantata and Arvo Pärt Passio. His recording of CPE Bach’s Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu with Il Gardellino and the Flemish Radio Choir conducted by Bart Van Reyn was released in 2022.
Kieran won Second Prize in the Bundeswettbewerb Gesang Berlin 2020.