BIOGRAPHY

Joshua Bloom is an Australian-American bass known for his commanding stage presence, vocal depth, and dramatic versatility across a remarkably wide-ranging repertoire. Based in Europe, he has earned a reputation as a compelling singing actor in music spanning Mozart, Wagner, and Strauss to world premieres by Gerald Barry and Richard Ayres. His performances have taken him to many of the world’s leading opera houses, including the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Wiener Staatsoper, Opéra national de Paris, English National Opera, San Francisco Opera, LA Opera, Opera Australia, and many others.

In the 2025/26 season, Joshua makes his debut at Glyndebourne as Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Sir Peter Hall’s iconic production. He returns to the Opéra national de Paris as Henry Kissinger in Nixon in China and to Theater Bielefeld as The Podestà in a new production of La gazza ladra. He also makes his house debut at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino as Rambo in The Death of Klinghoffer.

The 2024/25 season saw Joshua’s debut at the Opéra national de Lorraine in the title role of Bluebeard’s Castle, a role he also performed in concert at Theater Bielefeld. He made his role debut as the Four Villains in Les contes d’Hoffmann at Staatsoper Hamburg and at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. He returned to Staatsoper Stuttgart as Trinity Moses in The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, conducted by Michele Gamba, and made a widely praised debut as Claggart in Ted Huffman’s new production of Billy Budd at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. At the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, he debuted as Alexandr Petrovich Goryanchikov in From the House of the Dead, conducted by Karina Canellakis.

Other recent engagements include returns to Opera Colorado as Leporello (Don Giovanni) and to Teatro São Carlos, Lisbon as Rocco (Fidelio); performances as The Ghost of Old Hamlet, Player King, and Gravedigger in Brett Dean’s Hamlet at the Bayerische Staatsoper under Vladimir Jurowski; Cadmus in Semele for Opéra de Lille and the Komische Oper Berlin; Bottom (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) for Opéra de Rouen Normandie; and Henry Kissinger (Nixon in China) for both Opéra national de Paris and Staatsoper Hannover.

Joshua’s breadth of repertoire includes Ratefreund in Braunfels’ Die Vögel and Vodník in Rusalka for Oper Köln; Ramfis and The King in Aida for New Israeli Opera; Méphistophélès in La damnation de Faust with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Edward Gardner; and Hunding in Die Walküre with Graeme Jenkins in Lisbon. He created and premiered The Garden, a solo opera written for him by Richard Ayres, with the London Sinfonietta and Asko Schönberg Ensemble, later reprising it at New Days Opera in Ostrava.

Further notable appearances include the title role in Le nozze di Figaro and the Tutor in Le Comte Ory for Garsington Opera; Swallow in Peter Grimes at the George Enescu Festival; Faraone in Mosè in Egitto for Oper Köln; and Bottom with English National Opera in Robert Carsen’s celebrated staging. He made his Royal Opera House debut in the world premiere of Gerald Barry’s Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, and returned in Richard Jones’ La clemenza di Tito. He has also appeared as Kaspar in Der Freischütz at the Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Japan.

In concert, Joshua has worked with the Berlin Philharmonic, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, all major London orchestras, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Auckland Philharmonia, and leading Australian symphonies.

His discography includes the Grammy-nominated recording of Gerald Barry’s The Importance of Being Earnest (NMC), the New York Philharmonic’s live recording of Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen with Alan Gilbert, and broadcasts with the Berlin Philharmonic (Le Grand Macabre) and the Metropolitan Opera (Don Giovanni), both conducted by Sir Simon Rattle and Fabio Luisi respectively. He also appears on LSO Live’s recording of Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande.

Born in Australia to musician parents, Joshua was a chorister at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne and studied cello and double bass before completing a degree in History at the University of Melbourne. He began his operatic career with OzOpera and went on to join the Young Artist Programme at Opera Australia, followed by the Merola and Adler Fellowships at San Francisco Opera.

Biography not for publication, for an up to date version please contact Oliver Clarke.