Current and future projects of Charles Rice include LE MINISTRE NOIR Le Grande Macabre Enescu Festival and Radio France, FLORIAN Princess Ida Queen Elizabeth Hall with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (John Wilson), FIGARO The Barber of Seville, MARCELLO La Bohème and CECIL Gloriana English National Opera, BELLO La fanciulla del West Staatsoper Hamburg, RAMIRO L’heure espagnole George Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra, DEMETRIUS A Midsummer Night’s Dream Opéra de Lille, ALBERT Werther Irish National Opera, and JACQUES HURY in the world premiere of L’annonce faite a Marie Opéra de Nantes. He made his debut in the 2023 BBC Proms’ Horrible Histories.
Other recent engagements have included ORESTE Iphigenie en Tauride, Eugene Onegin (title role) and Hamlet (title role) Opéra de Nantes, Rennes and Angers, Don Giovanni (title role) Opéra de Avignon, CECIL Gloriana Teatro Real, ORONTE Médée Grand Théâtre de Genève, SIMONSON IVANOVICH Risurrezione Wexford Festival Opera, GABEY On the Town, and DEMETRIUS A Midsummer Night’s Dream Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Japan, FIGARO The Barber of Seville and MAXIMILIAN Candide The Grange Festival, NED KEENE Peter Grimes Palau de Les Arts Reina Sofia Valencia, ARTHUR KOESTLER Benjamin, dernière nuit (world premiere) and PROCOLO Viva la Mamma Opéra de Lyon, and HERMANN Les Contes d’Hoffmann Royal Opera House Covent Garden.
Past engagements have included ESCAMILLO Carmen Stadttheater Klagenfurt and Vorarlberger Landestheater, HARLEKIN Ariadne auf Naxos and SILVIO Pagliacci Opéra de Toulon, SID Albert Herring English Touring Opera, HK Gruber’s Gloria -A Pigtale Mahogany Opera Group tour (Linbury Studio, Bregenz Festival), roles in Candide Opéra National de Lorraine, NED KEENE Peter Grimes Aldeburgh Festival, BELLO La Fanciulla del West English National Opera, and MORALES Carmen Royal Albert Hall.
Charles sang concerts at the Royal Festival Hall, Canterbury Cathedral, St Martin-in-the-Fields, Cadogan Hall and others. He studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the National Opera Studio.
Christopher Broom
Phone: +44 208 768 6604
Mobile: +44 7778794397
Email: chris@atholestill.co.uk
Representation: Worldwide
News | Charles Rice
News | Robin Adams, Paul Curievici, Charles Rice
"Charles Rice’s Marcello, the only member of the Bohemians whose characterization went beyond the basics… and whose warm, gold-flecked baritone was a natural foil for William Thomas’s Colline"
Opera Magazine
"The most touching moments are those between Charles Rice’s suavely devious Sid and Martha Jones’s fetching Nancy."
Evening Standard
"Charles Rice was a burly Figaro, naturally suited to the part with a warm affability and energetic stage presence."
Bachtrack
"Ned Keene, very well drawn and sung by Charles Rice stands out above others."
El Pais
"Charles Rice, is simply divine as Arthur’s rival and best friend Lancelot. His swooning version of If Ever I Would Leave You has the audience melting in their seats, whilst his entrance as a more cocksure pre-Guenevere Lancelot showed comedic prowess that had us eating out of the palm of his hand from the off. We believe every moment, simply because Lancelot expects us to; he lands a lot."
Westendwilma.com
"Dans le rôle-titre, Charles Rice (Hamlet) déploie une raucité puissante, intense tout au long d’un rôle écrasant pour les barytons; saluons le souci d’intelligibilité du soliste et aussi sa concentration qui éclaire de l’intérieur, le feu à la fois haineux et halluciné qui le ronge jusqu’à la fin."
Classique News
"Le baryton Charles Rice, présent dans pratiquement tous les actes, tient son rôle de bout en bout. L’intensité de son jeu et de son chant rend encore plus fort le drame qu’il vit dan la solitude. Le chanteur britannique incarne le rôle et, comme la majorité de ses comparses, a une diction qui rend superflu le sous-titrage."
Ouest-France
"Le timbre moiré, souverain de Charles Rice lui répond idéalement, dans une incarnation d'Oreste saturée par la noblesse et la douleur."
Diapason
"Charles Rice, que le public angevin a déjà applaudi en Onéguine et Hamlet, traduit remarquablement les affres de la conscience d’Oreste, torturé par son matricide, par un chant noble porté par une diction d’une clarté remarquable."
Première Loge
"Rice's conversational, elegant singing matched words and music in great style, his descent was an abandoned conflation of volume and ink-black tone, and he sang an ultra-seductive 'Là ci darem la mano'."
Opera
"Charles Rice has all the extrovert charm and exuberant energy of Figaro."
SlippedDisc
"Charles Rice has the right brightly focused baritone, with ringing top notes, as Figaro. "
Financial Times
"British baritone Charles Rice makes an attractive Figaro with nimble comic moves (he spends an entire scene standing in a bookcase); and the opera’s warmest relationship is between Figaro and Rosina."
The Stage
"Charles Rice’s excellent Figaro dominates, as he should, handsome of voice and presence, with mocking irony and glee never far from his tone, a man with his eye to the main chance, wordly wise and affectionate."
The Guardian
"As the ever-resourceful Barber himself, the British baritone Charles Rice was magnificent and his first big aria (Largo al factotum) generated huge applause."
The Article
"Bringing life to one of the most famous opera characters, Charles Rice had big shoes to fill in and he has done a marvellous job. Cunning, hilarious and dominant, Charles Rice’s portrayal of Figaro is everything it should be. From the first moment he appears on the stage his performance is bustling and captivating."
Voice Mag
"Dripping in impish charm and unparalleled self-confidence, Rice’s Figaro is a joyous schemer, influenced by the harlequin tradition. His baritone is tinged with warmth, even in the opera’s paciest arias."
CityA.M.
"The lynchpin of the evening was Charles Rice’s impeccably-voiced Figaro. His bright, forthright baritone was rich and colourful, his comic timing faultless. He dominated proceedings, yet never upstaged his colleagues. His opening aria, ‘Largo al factotum’ was perfectly judged, and he went on to produce a steady stream of warm tone for the rest of the evening. What a talent."
musicomh.com
"Among those friends are painter Marcello, most wonderfully sung and affectionately acted by Charles Rice."
www.culturewhisper.com
"Rice was one of the stars of the production, with his rich resonant baritone voice able to switch from boisterous humour to emotional intensity in his on-off relationship with Musetta and in his concern for Mimi."
www.markaspen.com