Biography

Jolyon Loy is an emerging British-Irish baritone who recently made debuts at The Royal Opera, English National Opera & Buxton International Festival. Directed by Oliver Mears, his portrayal of Tarquinius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at The Linbury Theatre received widespread acclaim; described as ‘brilliantly played by Jolyon Loy, his tensile, dynamic vocalism underlining his menace.’ (The Stage) and ‘all the more dangerously psychopathic for being so charismatic of both voice and presence’ (The Guardian). Jolyon returns to Covent Garden in 24/25.

His debut at English National Opera was as Aye in the 2023 revival of Phelim McDermott’s Olivier award-winning production of Philip Glass‘ Akhnaten, having previously covered Mr Kallenbach in Satyagraha. Other companies for whom he has sung include Verbier Festival, Wexford Festival Opera, Garsington Opera, Opera Holland Park, The Vache Baroque Festival, Cambridge Handel Opera & Opera Collective Ireland.

Roles include Eugene Onegin, Don Giovanni, Silvio I Pagliacci, Figaro & Count Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro, Peter Hansel & Gretel, Aeneas Dido & Aeneas, Schaunard La bohème, Belcore L’elisir d’amore, Guglielmo & Don Alfonso Così fan tutte, Billy Budd, Owen Wingrave, Marco Gianni Schicchi, Sonora La fanciulla del West, Papageno The Magic Flute, Zoroastro Orlando, Minskman in Jonathan Dove’s Flight and Owen Hart in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking.

In concert Jolyon has worked with conductors such as Laurence Cummings, Christian Curnyn & Philippe Herreweghe, his engagements including Handel Messiah with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (Symphony Hall), J. S. Bach St Matthew Passion (Dartington International Festival), Handel Theodora (Snape Maltings Concert Hall) and Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music (St John’s, Smith Square).

Nominated for a Gramophone Award, Jolyon featured as Apollo in Academy of Ancient Music’s landmark recording of John Eccles’ Semele, released on AAM Records. Due for release in 2024, he features as a soloist on a new CD of songs tracing Goethe’s Faust legend, recorded with pianist Mark Austin for Champs Hill Records.

Jolyon is an alumnus of the Verbier Festival’s Atelier Lyrique, the Britten Pears Young Artist Programme, the Internationale OpernWerkstatt - Festival der jungen Stimmen, British Youth Opera, the Garsington Opera Alvarez YAP, the Opera Holland Park YAP, Opera Prelude and the Glyndebourne Chorus.

From 2020-21 Jolyon was a Young Artist at the National Opera Studio in London appearing in performance at ENO, Opera North, Welsh National Opera & Cadogan Hall. He is a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the Royal Academy of Music and the University of Oxford where he read Modern Languages and sang as a Choral Scholar at Magdalen College.

Awards include an Extraordinary Prize at the 60th Tenor Viñas Competition, 2nd Prize & the Bayreuth Stipendium at the Wagner Society Singing Competition at Wigmore Hall, a Glyndebourne New Generation Young Artist Development Award and the Richard Van Allan Award from Help Musicians UK.