© Christian Schuller
Welsh tenor Rhydian Jenkins is a member of the International Opera Studio at Oper Köln. A former Young Artist at the National Opera Studio, Garsington Opera and Longborough Festival Opera, he graduated with Distinction from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and received the 2019 Bryn Terfel Scholarship and the 2021 MOCSA Young Welsh Singer of the Year Prize.
In the current season at Oper Köln his roles include Pang Turandot, Don Curzio and Basilio (cover) Le nozze di Figaro, Lamplighter Manon Lescaut, Maurizio di Mauro Der Wunschpunsch, and Max Max und Moritz. This summer he makes his role and house debut at Stadttheater Gießen as Sellem The Rakes Progress, before returning to Longborough Festival Opera to sing Malcolm Macbeth and cover Macduff.
Next season engagements include Jamie and Lord Boxington My Fair Lady, Hörfling Die Nachtigall and Macduff (cover) Macbeth (Oper Köln); his European debuts include Prologue The Turn of the Screw (Opéra de Lausanne) and Basilio Le nozze di Figaro (Da Ponte Opera Festival).
His other roles include Parpignol La bohéme, Tamino and Monostatos Die Zauberflöte für Jung und Alt, Batman Superheldennormalos (world premiere), Hund Die Bremer Stadtmusikanten, Vocal Ensemble La Passion de Simone, and Lord Arturo Bucklaw (cover) Lucia di Lammermoor (Oper Köln); Lysander OperaFirst A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Count Ivrea (cover) Un giorno di regno (Garsington Opera); Peter Quint/Prologue The Turn of the Screw (Cumbria Opera Group); Snout and Fairy 3 The Fairy Queen (Longborough Festival Opera); Spoletta (cover) Tosca (Northern Ireland Opera); Vittorio Elena e Gerardo (Random Opera Company); and Sergei Cheryomushki (Welsh National Opera Youth Opera). Other roles include Don Ottavio Don Giovanni, Albert Albert Herring, Alfred Die Fledermaus, and Anthony Hope Sweeney Todd.
In concert, Rhydian has performed at Wigmore Hall in lunchtime recitals curated by Dame Ann Murray and Sholto Kynoch, and made his Bridgewater Hall debut in The Glories of Rome with The Hallé. As an oratorio soloist, his repertoire includes Rossini Petite messe solennelle, Mozart Requiem and Missa solemnis, Handel Messiah, Haydn Nelson Mass and Fauré Requiem. He has performed at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Wales Millennium Centre, Cadogan Hall and St David’s Hall.
Sellem / The Rake‘s Progress / Stadttheater Gießen / 2026
“The biggest round of applause during the performance goes to the magnificent choir and to Rhydian Jenkins as the Auctioneer with his puppet-like acrobatics, as if he were suspended by strings”
(Gießener Allgemeine Zeitung)
“In the role of Sellem, tenor Rhydian Jenkins navigated the fast-paced passages of the boisterous auction with ease and entertained the audience with his humorous performance.”
(Gießener Anzeiger)
Peter Quint / The Turn of the Screw / Cumbria Opera / 2025
“Rhydian Jenkins’ Peter Quint was an immensely powerful and troubling figure, in both his physical presence and his alluring voice.”
(Seen & Heard International)
Parpignol / La bohème / Oper Köln / 2024
“…Rhydian Jenkins as Parpignol completed the excellent ensemble that made this performance a celebration of voices.”
(Der Opernfreund)
1 – 16 July 2026
Verdi: Macbeth
Conductor: Nil Venditti
Director: Karolina Sofulak
9 – 13 September 2026
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro
Conductor: Pietro Semenzato
Director: Paul Carr
15 – 22 November 2026
Britten: The Turn of the Screw
Conductor: Alexander Briger
Director: Richard Brunel
