Barihunk Edward Nelson wins Glyndebourne Opera Cup

Edward Nelson (photo courtesy of Glyndebourne)

American barihunk Edward Nelson won the Glyndebourne Opera Cup today, taking home the top prize of £15,000 and the guarantee of a professional role at a top international opera house. He is the second consecutive American to win the prize, following mezzo-soprano Samantha Hankey's win in 2018.

Nelson sang "La fatigue alourdit mes pes… Comme une pâle fleur" and "Ô vin, dissipe la tristesse" from Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet during the first half and followed it up with Rossini's crowd pleasing "Largo al factotum" from Il barbiere di Siviglia. Nelson just wrapped up an acclaimed run as the Barber with the Vancouver Opera on February 23.

He recently made his European debut at the Norwegian National Opera as Pelléas in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande, a role he later sang with Ópera de Oviedo and covered at the Glyndebourne Festival. He is graduate of the Adler Fellowship at the San Francisco Opera, where he has made seventy main stage appearances, including as Malatesta in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, Bosun in Britten's Billy Budd, Yamadori in Puccini's Madama Butterfly and Morales in Bizet's Carmen.

From May 30 to June 28, he can be heard as Dr. Falke in Johann Strauss' Die Fledermaus at the Opera Theatre of St Louis .