Born: Canberra, Australia, 1969
Educated: Red Hill Primary School, Telopea Park High School, Narrabundah College, Canberra.
Music Education: Canberra School of Music; Victorian College of the Arts (Opera Studio)
Victoria State Opera Schools Company
Victoria State Opera Young Artist Program
Opera Australia Young Artist Program
Opera Australia Principal
Senior Principal Artist, Opera Australia
International Freelance Artist 2015- present
Warwick's other major interests include art, literature, film, politics, history, and the Australian countryside.
Awards include:
Winston Churchill Fellowship; Helpmann Award; Green Room Awards; The Bayreuth Scholarship; Performing Arts WA award for outstanding achievement by an interstate artist; McDonald’s Aria; Heinz Australian Youth Aria; Leopold Julian Kronenberg Foundation Award (Stanislaw Moniuszko International Vocal Competition,Warsaw); Dame Mabel Brookes Memorial Fellowship; The Austral SalonScholarship; The Mabel Kent Scholarship; Bayreuth Bursary
Photo: As Athanaël in Thaïs, Finnish National. Opera
Warwick Fyfe is an Australian opera singer, considered to be one of Australia’s leading exponents of the Wagnerian repertoire and has performed throughout Australasia and internationally. Most recently, he has sung Water King (Vodnik) (Rusalka- WAOC), and Scarpia (Tosca, OA). Wagner rôles include: Wotan / (Wanderer) MOC, OMM and Alberich, OA) (OA); Heerufer (OA); Beckmesser (OA); Klingsor (OA); Hunding (WASO); Dutchman (OA), Daland (VO); Wolfram (OA); Fasolt (SOSA).
Other major rôles include: Pizarro (Fidelio-MO, OA,WASO); Athanaël (Thaïs-FNO); Peter (Hansel and Gretel- OA),OMM); Four Villains (Tales of Hoffmann-ETO); Falstaff (OA); Rigoletto (OA, NZO); Sancho Panza (Don Quichotte- OA); Paolo (Simon Boccanegra- OA); Leporello (NZO) (OA) ; Fra Melitone (Forza del Destino- OA); Scarpia (WAO, OA); Tonio (I Pagliacci- NZO); Faninal (Der Rosenkavalier- OA); Schaunard (La Boheme- OA); Dr Schon /Jack the Ripper (Lulu- OA) ; Germont (La Traviata- OA); Mandryka (Arabella-OA).
Warwick also has delighted audiences in comedic rôles, such as Bottom (Midsummer Night’s Dream, Adelaide Festival); Barone di Trombonok (Viaggio a Rheims - OA); Geronio (Il Turco in Italia- OA); Dr Bartolo (Barber of Seville- WAO) (VOC); Pooh Bah (OA); Taddeo (Italian Girl in Algiers- NZO); Papageno (OA).
“Warwick Fyfe’s Water King is a bold, terrifying, and wondrous presence on stage. The bass baritone handled the drama and technical demands of the role with poise. It’s a pleasure to hear this voice type at length” Limelight, 29/07/2024. Emma Jayakumar.
“Fyfe is immediately commanding in dark baritone voice and presence as harp (William Nichols) announces the heroine’s motif, running through the score like a silken thread.” David Cusworth, The West Australian 22/07/2024
“The singing was of a consistently high standard, with the Alberich of Warwick Fyfe particularly fine. His familiar, award-winning portrayal of this character was superb, the sudden moments of vocal beauty in his powerful singing giving the character unexpected but moving glimpses of a flawed and deeply buried humanity. “ Michael Halliwell, ABR. 4/12/2023
“And into the history books Warwick Fyfe goes in accomplishing a feat of operatic strength and flexibility after demonstrating what a commanding Wotan he can portray in MOC’s Ring earlier this year and following up with a performance equal to the world’s best with his persistently parasitic and impactful Alberich. “ Paul Selar, Opera Today. 10/12/2023
“The singing was of a generally high order, led by Warwick Fyfe’s magisterial Wotan, a long way from his last seen (but equally effective) appearance as Bottom. He suggested a boss god genuinely challenged by the magnitude of the decisions demanded of him, and it will be interesting to see how this develops through the succeeding operas.” Sandra Bowdler, 25/-3/2023. Bachtrack.
https://bachtrack.com/review-rheingold-negus-chaundy-melbourne-opera-bendigo-march-2023
To see video clip, click below
https://share.icloud.com/photos/031Y6NhDncNZRSnePfGa3algw
Patrick Togher, Director
Patrick Togher Artists’ Management
109A Burradoo Rd
Burradoo NSW 2576
Email: patrick@patricktogher.com
Mobile: 0411 129 690 (Patrick Togher)
Website: http://www.patricktogher.com
Natalie De Biasi: Artist Manager
natalie@patricktogher.com 0403 770 602
Paull-Anthony Keightley: Artist Manager
Paull@paticktogher.com 0433 043 502
A member of international Artist Managers’ Association (IAMA) http://www.iamaworld.com
A member of Opera Managers’ Association International http://www.operamanagers.org
https://www.patricktogher.com/warwick-fyfe/
Photo: Concert Performance of Walküre, WASO. 2023. Conductor Ascher Fisch.
Bach, Ein Deutsches Requiem. Melbourne Bach Choir.
Bach, St.John Passion. Melbourne
Bach, St Matthew Passion. Canberra,
Bach, B Minor Mass. Canberra
Bartók, Bluebeard's Castle. Monash Academy.
Beethoven 9. SSO, MSO, WASO.,
Beethoven, Mass in C. Melbourne.
Beethoven, Fidelio (WASO)
Mahler 8. (OMM, Sing)
Orff, Carmina Burana SSO , MSO. QSO, ASO.NZSO.
Handel, Messiahs: Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart.
Missa Solemnis. SPO
Rachmaninoff, The Bells. (WASO)
Rossini, Stabat Mater. (SSO),
Szymanowski, Stabat Mater. (Melbourne Bach Choir)
Schoenberg, Gurrelieder. SSO
Verd, Requiem WASO, QSO, WAYO
Wagner, Rheingold, OMM (Sing)
Wagner, Walküre. WASO
Photo:
Fidelio, in Concert. WASO 2020.
Jonathan Lemalu, Adrian Tamburini, Warwick Fyfe & Andrew Goodwin.
Just as Wagner’s music dramas can be approached on various levels and seen through all sorts of prisms, there are distinct compartments under the general heading of learning the roles they contain.
[As Beckmesser, in Die Meistersinger, OA 2018. Photo credit: Jeff Busby]
The next stage is what I call the hard core memorisation. That’s the marathon, endurance phase. Because of the unique size of this role, I have broken up the pattern somewhat by going back for sweeps through sections where my memorisation is already advanced while otherwise working hard at the much less assimilated bits.
In theory, the final learning phase comes after pushing through to the end of the up close memorisation phase. That final phase is the grand sweeps through long sections or even the whole role if possible. This has to happen as often as possible. Hopefully this can be timed so that one is thoroughly ready for the first day of rehearsals.
With Sachs, complacency is the enemy and I’ve seen people come a cropper and fall short, like trying to leap a ravine and not making it, because they thought it was just another role. But even this is not the end. One has to sing it in and work out how on earth to sustain vocally a role which, sung without stopping, lasts two and a half hours.
“Australian bass-baritone Warwick Fyfe’s performance of a part that has been taken by actors like Werner Klemperer (son of the conductor, Otto) or by ex-singers (Schoenberg apparently mulled over the idea of a retired tenor) was magisterial – full of illuminating gesture and direct communication (helping us to ‘see’, for example, the web
“Australian bass-baritone Warwick Fyfe’s performance of a part that has been taken by actors like Werner Klemperer (son of the conductor, Otto) or by ex-singers (Schoenberg apparently mulled over the idea of a retired tenor) was magisterial – full of illuminating gesture and direct communication (helping us to ‘see’, for example, the web that the summer wind tore away). Toward the end it was if Fyfe was longing to sing, a moving yearning that led logically into a powerful choral conclusion, testament to music’s ability to deliver the most decisively powerful climaxes.” Gordon Williams, Operawire. 24/03/2024
https://operawire.com/sydney-symphony-orchestra-2024-review-gurrelieder/#google_vignette
"Warwick Fyfe as the evil sorcerer Klingsor was simply sensational. He thundered the text, expressing the seething rage underlying Klingsor’s malevolence. His articulation of Wagner’s text was exemplary. Having recently excelled as Alberich in Opera Australia’s Ring Cycle, Fyfe has shown himself to be one of the finest Wagnerian singers A
"Warwick Fyfe as the evil sorcerer Klingsor was simply sensational. He thundered the text, expressing the seething rage underlying Klingsor’s malevolence. His articulation of Wagner’s text was exemplary. Having recently excelled as Alberich in Opera Australia’s Ring Cycle, Fyfe has shown himself to be one of the finest Wagnerian singers Australia has produced." Deen Hamaker, Soundslike Sydney , 9/08/2017
"The image Wagner created of the open bleeding wound to represent a self-inflicted fall from grace, brings to mind the art of Francis Bacon. That image is taken further in the figure of the self-castrated Klingsor, to whose impotent malevolence Warwick Fyfe brought terrifying ferocity, a keen-edged incisive voice, madly wandering eye and brilliant character portrayal." Peter McCallum, Sydney Morning Herald, 10/08/2017
Under the baton of Maestro Ascher Fisch, with the West Australian Symphon Orchestra.
“Warwick Fyfe is impassioned as the evil prison governor, joined by the 40-strong male members of the WASO chorus in his rousing introduction. His is a visceral performance. From the thump of his footsteps as he enters the stage, Fyfe’s performance supers
Under the baton of Maestro Ascher Fisch, with the West Australian Symphon Orchestra.
“Warwick Fyfe is impassioned as the evil prison governor, joined by the 40-strong male members of the WASO chorus in his rousing introduction. His is a visceral performance. From the thump of his footsteps as he enters the stage, Fyfe’s performance supersedes the concert form, giving a peek into how this character could be played in a full production” Leah Mercer, The Conversation, 3//03/2020
One of the nicest things about travelling is catching up with friends in new places. Here, I was catching up with Finnish conductor, Maestro Pietari Inkinen, in Kaiserslautern, Germany.
The last thing you'd expect to encounter in Berlin is a thylacine!!! Seen at the wonderful Natural History Museum.
One of my most enjoyable and interesting years was 2015, with the English Touring Opera, Tales of Hoffmann. Here I am as one of the Four Villains, with soprano Ilona Domnich, as Olympia.
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