Anglo-Irish baritone Jolyon Loy is emerging as one of the UK’s most versatile singer-actors. His breakthrough as Tarquinius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at the Royal Opera House’s Linbury Theatre, directed by Oliver Mears, conducted by Corinna Niemeyer and broadcast on BBC Radio 3, earned him universal critical acclaim for his “charismatic voice and presence” (The Guardian), “dynamic vocalism” (The Stage) and the “mellow seductiveness of his baritone” (Bachtrack). In the 26/27 season, Jolyon appears as Kyoto in Mascagni’s Iris under Francesco Ciluffo, directed by Rosetta Cucchi, at the 75th Wexford Festival Opera, Aye in Barrie Kosky’s Akhnaten at Komische Oper Berlin, in Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem at Worcester Cathedral, RVW’s A Sea Symphony with Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at Exeter Cathedral and in Bach’s St Matthew Passion at Canterbury Cathedral under Richard Cooke.

Recent engagements have included cover Onegin Eugene Onegin and Schaunard in Richard Jones’ La bohème under Speranza Scappucci for The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, Beethoven 9 with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under Christopher Warren-Green at the Barbican, Don Giovanni Don Giovanni with the Irish Baroque Orchestra/BVOF under Peter Whelan, Moralès & cover Escamillo in Calixto Bieito’s Carmen for English National Opera, Marullo Rigoletto under Asher Fisch at Tiroler Festspiele Erl, Paolo Albiani Simon Boccanegra for Grange Park Opera, Joseph in Berlioz L’Enfance du Christ with Cambridge Philharmonic and Beethoven 9 with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra at Royal Festival Hall.

Elsewhere, Jolyon has appeared as Escamillo in a G7 Gala with the Orchestra dell’Arena di Verona at Teatro Filarmonico di Verona, as Earl of Morton Mary, Queen of Scots and Aye in Phelim McDermott’s Olivier Award-winning Akhnaten under Karen Kamensek for English National Opera, Figaro Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Holland Park, Don Alfonso Così fan tutte for Garsington Opera, Aeneas Dido & Aeneas at The Vache Baroque Festival, Zoroastro Orlando at Buxton International Festival, Minskman Flight with Opera Collective Ireland, 1st Priest/2nd Armed Man Die Zauberflöte under Stanislav Kochanowsky & Wächter Die Frau ohne Schatten under Valery Gergiev at the Verbier Festival.

His extensive concert work includes Handel Messiah with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra at Symphony Hall, Ghost of Samuel Saul under Laurence Cummings & Bach St Matthew Passion for Dartington Festival, Valens Theodora under Christian Curnyn for the Aldeburgh Festival/Snape Proms at Snape Maltings Concert Hall, Orff Carmina Burana at London’s Amaryllis Fleming Concert Hall, Handel Dixit Dominus for Wexford Festival Opera, Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music at St John's Smith Square, Stanford Songs of the Sea, Duruflé Requiem, Puccini Messa di Gloria, Vaughan Williams 5 Mystical Songs, Bach B Minor Mass, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle, Brahms Liebeslieder Waltzes, Dupré De Profundis & Fauré Requiem.

Winner of an Extraordinary Prize at the 60th Tenor Viñas, 2nd Prize and the Bayreuth Stipendium at the Wigmore Hall Wagner Society Singing Competition, Jolyon has been nominated for a Gramophone Award. His recordings include Apollo in Eccles’ Semele with the Academy of Ancient Music under Julian Perkins and Songs from Faust, recorded with Mark Austin on Champs Hill Records. A keen recitalist, he has appeared alongside Iain Burnside at Ludlow English Song Weekend, Pantesilena Jaho at Wexford Festival Opera, James Baillieu at the Verbier Festival and is a founding member of The Rhapsode Ensemble.

Jolyon is a former Glyndebourne New Generation Young Artist at the National Opera Studio in London, supported by the Countess of Munster Trust and the Richard Van Allan Award. He is an alumnus of the the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme, Verbier Festival’s Atelier Lyrique, Garsington Opera’s Alvarez Programme, Opera Holland Park’s Young Artist Scheme, the Glyndebourne Chorus, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Royal Academy of Music & Oxford University, where he was a choral scholar at Magdalen College. As a boy, he sang as a chorister at Worcester Cathedral.