“Leech continues to build on his years of experience
to achieve an indisputable position as an artist
of solid artistry and abundant appeal.”
– Gramophone
“Whatever his fans pay, he gives them their money’s worth. He looks heroic, and he delivers great sound.”
– Los Angeles Times
American tenor Richard Leech has been referred to in the press as “A National Treasure”. Singing many of the most demanding and well-known roles of the Italian and French repertoire, both on disc and on the stages of the world’s leading opera houses, he is recognized as one of today’s most celebrated tenors.
As a leading tenor with the Metropolitan Opera, Mr. Leech appeared at the company for 17 consecutive seasons from his greatly heralded 1989 debut as Rodolfo in La bohème. In addition to Rodolfo, Mr. Leech has sung the leading tenor roles in eleven other operas at the Met and has been heard on many Saturday broadcasts of Tosca, Carmen, Faust, Roméo et Juliette, Madama Butterfly, Rigoletto, Un ballo in Maschera, Lucia di Lammermoor, L’elisir d’amore, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, and Mefistofele.
Balancing his U.S. and European engagements, Mr. Leech opened the 2007-2008 in the Franco Zeffirelli production of I Pagliacci at the Kremlin in Moscow, and continues the season as Turiddu in Cavalleria Rusticana at San Diego Opera and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, as Alfredo in La Traviata at Cincinnati Opera, and as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with the Atlanta Opera. Mr. Leech will also tour the US in his one-man-show “Be My Love – A Tribute to Mario Lanza”.
Most recent seasons have brought Mr. Leech to the Vienna State Opera as Don Jose in Carmen and Rodolfo in La bohème, the Metropolitan Opera as Don Jose in Carmen, to Barcelona as Pinkerton, the Pittsburgh Opera as Canio in I Pagliacci, to Amsterdam as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, to Berlin asCavaradossi in Tosca and Rodolfo in La bohème, and to Cincinnati as Faust.
Mr. Leech continues to return to many of the great opera houses of the world. In addition to the Met, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and the opera companies of San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, and San Diego, Mr. Leech has enjoyed a career that has regularly taken him to the Opera National de Paris, Covent Garden, the Wiener Staatsoper, Teatro alla Scala, Florence’s Teatro Comunale, and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In concert, Mr. Leech has distinguished himself with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, as well as the National and Montreal Symphonies, among many others.
A number of Mr. Leech’s performances have been televised, including the new production of Madame Butterfly, the James Levine 25th Anniversary Gala; both at the Met, a “Live form Lincoln Center” Rigoletto with the New York City Opera, and many other appearances on the annual Richard Tucker Music Foundation Gala. In 1995 Mr. Leech had the distinct honor of singing for President Clinton and the First Family at the lighting of the National Christmas Tree, along with Aretha Franklin and Trisha Yearwood. Mr. Leech was the recipient of the prestigious Richard Tucker Award in 1989, and the Voice Foundation’s “Voice Education, Research, and Awareness” (VERA) Award.
Mr. Leech has graced the covers of Opera News, Opera International, Classical Singer, Orpheus, Opera, and The New York Times’ Television Guide.
His impressive discography provides further evidence of Mr. Leech’s exceptional versatility. Among his more than a dozen recordings are, the Duke in Rigoletto and Riccardo in Un ballo in maschera (Teldec); Rodolfo in La bohème and Raoul in Les Huguenots (Erato); the title role in Faust and the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier (EMI); Alfred in Die Fledermaus and Narraboth in Salome (Philips); La damnation de Faust (London/Decca); and Mahler Symphony No. 8 (Sony). His most recent releases include his solo album “from the heart” – a collection of Italian arias and songs (Telarc) , and I Lombardi, which marked Mr. Leech’s premiere recording with James Levine and the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra(London/Decca). A 1991 Berlin performance of Les Huguenots (in German) was recently released on DVD (Arthaus).