Introducing British Barihunk and Model Matthew Thistleton

Matthew Thistleton

British barihunk Matthew Thistleton caught our eye as José Castro in the Grange Park Opera production of Puccini's La fanciulla del West that closed over the weekend. This season, he was also one of the monks in Verdi's Don Carlo that featured. Clive Bayley as Filippo II, David Stout as Rodrigo, Stefano Secco in the title role, Ruxandra Donose as Eboli and Virginia Tola as Elisabetta.  During the 2014 and 2015 summer seasons he was a member of the Grange Park Opera chorus in Britten's Peter Grimes, Tchaikovsky's The Queen of Spades, Saint-Saens' Samson et Delilah (where he also sang the Second Philistine) and Puccini's La Boheme (where he covered Colline).

The Wilmslow native finished his Master’s at the Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) where he was the recipient of The Riga Heesom Award and was supported by the Laurison School Trust. He made his operatic debut in the RNCM’s production of Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria. He went on to sing in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Opera on Location as Snug the Joiner, scenes from Smetana's The Bartered Bride, Massenet's Cendrillon and Rossini's L’italiana in Algeri and Il Turco in Italia.
 
After performing in the Italian Cultural Institute's Pinocchio as Geppetto Matthew has recently finished the 2016 season with Grange Park Opera where he performed as Castro in la Fanciulla Del West and as one of the six monks in Don Carlo.

He is also a model with Maverick Models.