Masterclass Paul McNamara

Paul McNamara is an Irish tenor whose career has taken him to many of Europe’s leading opera houses and concert halls, as well as major international stages in North and South America, Africa and Asia.

He made his Venice debut at Teatro La Fenice in the title role of Wagner’s Tannhäuser under Omer Meir Wellber, and earned critical acclaim at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in Braunfels’ Szenen aus dem Leben der heiligen Johanna. His North American debut with the American Symphony Orchestra under Leon Botstein in Max von Schillings’ Mona Lisa was widely praised by both audiences and critics.

Further operatic engagements include appearances at Teatr Wielki (Warsaw), Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie (Brussels), NI Opera, Cape Town Opera, Opera Leśna in Sopot, Opera Ireland, the Janáček Festival in Brno, the National Opera in Almaty, the Theatro Municipal in Rio de Janeiro, and with the Salzburg Festival at the Beijing Music Festival. Recent and upcoming performances include work with Dutch National Touring Opera (Nederlandse Reisopera), Staatsoper Berlin, Saarländisches Staatstheater Saarbrücken, the Opéra Royal de Versailles and Opéra national du Rhin in Strasbourg.

On the concert platform, McNamara has sung in many of the world’s leading venues, among them the Berlin Philharmonie, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Carnegie Hall in New York. He has also appeared at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin, at the Telemann Festival in Hamburg with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, at the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, in Paris with the Orchestre national d’Île-de-France (in scenes from Die Walküre and Parsifal), and with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra (Siegfried, Act III).

His repertoire is extensive and stylistically wide-ranging. In addition to Wagner roles such as Claudio (Das Liebesverbot), Erik, Loge, Tannhäuser, Tristan, Siegfried, Mime and Parsifal, he has performed music by Monteverdi, Cavalli, Mozart, Weber, Meyerbeer, Tchaikovsky, Leoncavallo, Dvořák, Richard Strauss, Janáček, Zemlinsky, Schönberg, Berg, Britten, Previn, Penderecki and Adams.

Alongside his performing career, Paul McNamara is Artistic Leader of the Dutch National Opera Academy (DNOA). A joint master’s programme of the Conservatorium van Amsterdam and the Royal Conservatoire The Hague, the DNOA offers comprehensive professional training for young opera singers. The two-year curriculum combines high-level technical refinement with the development of artistic identity, stagecraft, professional resilience and industry awareness. The programme aims to equip emerging artists to enter a competitive international field with clarity and confidence. Each season, the DNOA presents several full-scale opera productions and maintains strong links with the professional opera world. Graduates of the DNOA can be found on the stages of leading opera houses worldwide. He currently also serves as casting director for the AVROTROS concert series.