Clive Bayley

Bass

Biography

Born in Manchester, Clive Bayley sings regularly with major opera companies in a diverse repertoire spanning Monteverdi, Mozart, Verdi, Puccini, Alban Berg, Benjamin Britten, Birtwistle, Richard Wagner and Ligeti.

Clive will continue to showcase his operatic repertoire across Europe in the 2021/22 season performing the roles of Tiresias in Oedipe at Opéra de Paris; the title role in Battistelli’s Julius Caesar at Teatro dell’Opera di Roma; Priest/Badger in The Cunning Little Vixen at English National Opera; Savjol Prokofjevič Dikój in Kát’a Kabanová at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam; and the Sacristan in The Excursions of Mr Brouček at Grange Park Opera.

Recent operatic engagements include the Doctor in Wozzeck at the Bayerische Staatsoper; Swallow in Peter Grimes at Teatro Real Madrid and Oper Frankfurt; the title role in Ivan the Terrible and Capulet in Romeo and Juliet at Grange Park Opera; Judge and Commissaire in Philip Glass’s Orphée at English National Opera; Claggart in Billy Budd at Gothenburg Opera and in the Richard Jones production at Oper Frankfurt; Fafner in Siegfried with the Hallé Orchestra; Daland in Der Fliegende Holländer at the Royal Danish Theatre; Publio in La Clemenza di Tito for Glyndebourne Festival; and Leporello in Don Giovanni at English National Opera.

Clive Bayley a “Masterly” Ivan the Terrible at Grange Park Opera

Jun 24, 2021

Clive Bayley is earning rave reviews for his performance of Ivan the Terrible in David Pountney’s production of Rimsky-Korsakov’s 1872 opera at Grange Park Opera. As the all-powerful ruler re-discovering his long-lost illegitimate daughter, Bayley, “sounding mighty...

Clive Bayley Makes Boris Godunov Role Debut in Gothenburg

Apr 23, 2018

Clive Bayley made his role début in the lead role of Boris Godunov at The Göteborg Opera on Saturday 21 April. The production, directed by Peter Konwitschny and conducted by Leo Hussain runs until 13 May. Please click here to purchase tickets. Clive will then go on to...

Reviews

“…Clive Bayley once more proving that when it comes to presenting a gruff manner concealing a heart of flint, he has no equal; his assumption of Ivan, whose real nickname was ‘formidable’ rather than ‘terrible,’ recalled his definitive Philip of Spain in its complexity, and his singing on this occasion was superbly expressive.”

Ivan the Terrible, Grange Park Opera

Melanie Eskanazi

Music OMH

“…a masterly performance that dominated, but which remained part of the ensemble.”

Ivan the Terrible, Grange Park Opera

Robert Hugill

Opera Today

“Clive Bayley is the four villains, demonstrating once again that he is a versatile and imposing a bass as any in the world at present.”

Michael Tanner

The Specator

“The British bass Clive Bayley made an auspicious Met debut as the Doctor, who enlists Wozzeck as a guinea pig for preposterous medical experiments. Mr. Bayley brings a robust voice and a maniacal gaze to this sneering quack.”

Anthony Tommasini

New York Times