Click here to download a high-resolution photograph (444 KB jpeg)

The Dutch Bass-Baritone Harry Peeters studied at the conservatories in Maastricht and in Vienna. In 1983, he won major prizes at the International Belvédère Award in Vienna.

He was immediately engaged at the Vienna State Opera where he sang the roles of Basilio in Il Barbière di Sivilglia, Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte and Colline in La Bohème. In 1985, he made his debut in a new production of Die Zauberflöte by Jérôme Savary at the Bregenz festival in Austria.

Harry Peeters was contracted at Opera Köln for the seasons 1994 until 2000. His roles included Seneca in L’Incoronazione di Poppea, Escamillo in Carmen, Orest in Elektra, Sarastro, Klingsor and Amfortas in Parsifal, Gremin in Eugene Onegin and Kaspar in Die Freischütz.

Harry Peeters has sung in many of the leading opera houses of the world. He has performed Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Sarastro with René Jacobs and Geisterbote in Die Frau Ohne Schatten in La Monnaie, Brussels and Mephistopheles in Faust at Opera Royal de Wallonie.

Roles in 2003 to 2005 included Le chef de la police in the new staging of Le Balcon by Peter Eötvös in Amsterdam, Toulouse and Paris, Hagen in Götterdämmerung for the Perth International Arts Festival, Australia, Sarastro in Amsterdam, Don Pizarro in Fidelio in Cologne and Graf Walter in Luisa Miller at the Nationale Reisopera at Enschede.

Harry Peeters has recently sung King Marke in Tristan und Isolde for West Australian Opera and Pimen in Boris Godunov at the Nationale Reisopera. In Geneva, he sang the leading role in Monsieur de Pourceaugnac by Frank Martin.

Most recently, he has performed Der Ring das Niebelungen (Wotan) in Darmstadt and Zaccaria in Verdi`s Nabucco with the National Reisopera as well as appearances in Lausanne, Amsterdam, Paris, Athens and Australia.