From the outset of his career, bass-baritone Edwin Crossley-Mercer proved himself an outstanding talent amongst the rising generation of French singers and he continues to make his mark, performing on the most prestigious international stages. After studying in Versailles and Berlin, he made his opera debut as Mozart’s Don Giovanni in Berlin in 2006, reprising the eponymous role in 2013 in Dijon.
In 2009 he sang in Cosi fan tutte at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence as Guglielmo, while 2010 marked his Opéra Bastille debut as the Harlekin in Ariadne auf Naxos, which he reprised in 2015. He also performed La Juive in Amsterdam as Albert, Amadis at the Opéra d’Avignon (Florestan), La Cenerentola at the Opéra National du Rhin (Dandini), Hippolyte et Aricie at the Beaune Festival and Opéra Royale de Versailles (Thésée), and at the Theatre de Champs-Elysées in Castor et Pollux (Pollux). At the Berlin operas he has performed La Bohème (Schaunard), Der Freischütz, and Doktor Faustus under Daniel Barenboim.
Edwin made his US debut in 2012 as Figaro with the LA Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel. He also appeared as Jupiter in Platée at the Lincoln Centre, Theater an der Wien, and the Opéra Comique, and as the title role in Fénelon’s biographical opera of Jean-Jacques Rousseau in Geneva. Leporello at the 2014 Glyndebourne Festival marked his UK debut.
Returning to the Bastille Opera, he made a highly successful debut as Papageno (Die Zauberflöte), before appearing with the Berliner Philharmoniker in La Damnation de Faust in Baden-Baden. He also debuted in Japan at the Saito Kinen festival as Claudio in Béatrice et Bénédicte. Highlights of the 2014-2015 season included Massenet’s Manon at The Dallas Opera (Lescaut), the creation ‘Mauerschau’, at the Bayerische Staatsoper, and La Damnation de Faust (Brander) at the Paris Opera.
As an experienced recitalist, he has performed at Moscow’s Dom Musiki, Carnegie Hall, Aix-en-Provence, Opéra de Lille, Musée d’Orsay (Die Winterreise, Die Schöne Magelone), and St Petersburg, as well as Bayreuth, the Louvre, Bad Kissingen and the Festival de Colmar. Concerts include the Bayerischer Rundfunkorchester (Deutsches Requiem), the Orchestre Nationale de France (Fauré, Requiem), Handel’s Messiah in Vienna, L’Enfance du Christ with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Mozart’s Requiem in Perm and Moscow.
Recipient of the 2007 HSBC Foundation Award and the Lili and Nadia Boulanger Voice Prize, his recordings include Les Motets by Charpentier, Arias and Opera Extracts by Lully, and Carmina Catulli, which was composed especially for his voice by Michael Linton, and released by the label Refinersfire. He has also collaborated in recordings of Amadis and Alceste (Lully) and Hercule Mourant with les Talens Lyriques (dir. Christophe Rousset). Edwin has also collaborated with several other artists to produce a CD presenting the ‘Unknown Music of Nadia Boulanger’, which was released in March 2017.
Returning in 2017 to the Opera Garnier in Così Fan Tutte, he also performed numerous concerts and recitals around Europe and in the USA. Other projects included Belfast for Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, Perm, Dortmund and Baden-Baden for La Bohème, Santiago de Chile for Don Giovanni, and Dresden, Amsterdam, Hamburg and Malmö for La Damnation de Faust and Munich for Orlando Paladino (Haydn).
The 2018/19 season saw Edwin return to the Theater an der Wein for Guillame Tell (Walter Fürst) and appear as Apollon and Adamas (Les Boreades) at the Dijon Opera, and as Thésée (Hippolyte et Aricie) in Zurich as well as joining the Orchestre National de France under Emmanuel Krivine for L’Enfance du Christ in concert and for La Damnation de Faust.