Kinch, Thomas

Tenor
(Cardiff, Wales)

First-year Adler Fellow Thomas Kinch is a Welsh tenor quickly establishing himself as an exciting young performer. This year’s assignments with San Francisco Opera include Don José in Carmen and Carmen Encounter, Melot in Tristan und Isolde, First Armored Man in The Magic Flute, Servant in Un Ballo in Maschera, and covering Luke in Poul Ruders and Paul Bentley’s The Handmaid’s Tale.

A 2023 Merola Opera Program participant, Kinch performed the title role of Otello in the opera’s second act for the Schwabacher Summer Concert. He recently performed Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth with Paisley Opera/Scottish Opera, returning after performing Turiddu in their 2022 adaptation of Cavalleria Rusticana (A Paisley Kiss) and made his American professional debut as Licinio in Spontini’s La Vestale with Teatro Grattacielo in New York.

Kinch was a 2022 Associate Artist for Welsh National Opera, where he sang the First Armed Man in their new production of The Magic Flute and covered Vítek in The Makropulos Case. He participated in Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices and was a 2021 new generation artist with Iford Arts, performing Canio in their double bill of Cavalleria Rusticana/ Pagliacci, where he was described as a “remarkable Canio with emotion and strength to knock you out of your seat” (Opera Scene). In this double bill, Kinch jumped in at the last minute as Turiddu alongside Susan Bullock as Santuzza and Paul Carey Jones as Alfio, giving a performance of “raw emotion and power” that “defied his years” (Opera Scene).

In 2022, Kinch returned to Opera Bohemia to sing Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, and in 2019 he made his international debut as Turiddu with Sri Lanka Opera. In 2020, Kinch toured the UK with Opera Up Close as Pinkerton, where his vocally powerful performance “stole the first half” (View from the Cheap Seat). Other recent engagements have included Turiddu with Edinburgh Grand Opera; Alfredo in La Traviata and Nadir in Les Pêcheurs de Perles with Opera Bohemia; and Cavaradossi in Tosca and Turiddu with North Wales Opera.