Thomas Oliemans

Amsterdam born winner of the 2013 Prix d' Amis of The Netherlands Opera for his portrayal of Papageno in Simon McBurney's production of Die Zauberflöte, Thomas Oliemans made his professional opera debut aged 24 as the Father in Hans Werner Henze’s Pollicino with the Nationale Reisopera of the Netherlands where he also sang Minos in Händel’s Arianna in Creta and Ned Keene in Britten’s Peter Grimes.

In 2005 he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival as Gonsalvo Fieschi in Schreker's Die Gezeichneten. Further important debuts followed in 2006 as Papageno in Mozart´s Die Zauberflöte at the Opéra de Nantes/Angers to great public and critical acclaim, and at the Grand Théâtre de Genève as Guglielmo in Cosi fan tutte. 

His most recent operatic engagements have included his debut at Teatro Real in Madrid with Ivor Bolton and Krysztof Warlikowski (Hercule in Gluck’s Alceste)  Donner in Das Rheingold under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, reprisal of his  Papageno in Die Zauberflöte at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence and Amsterdam. Conte in Le Nozze di Figaro in Gothenburg, Ramiro in L'Heure Espagnole in concert conducted by Charles Dutoit. He appeared as Lescaut in Massenet’s Manon at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse partnering Natalie Dessay, had his debut at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden singing Schaunard alongside Joseph Calleja, Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorghiu in La Bohème conducted by Semyon Bychkov, Papageno in a new production of Die Zauberflöte staged by esteemed director Simon McBurney and Fritz Kothner in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg conducted by Marc Albrecht at De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam, Marcello in La Bohème and Gunther inGötterdämmerung at the Nationale Reisopera, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus and Marcello in La Bohème at the Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg, Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro and Figaro in Il Barbiere di Siviglia for the Scottish Opera, Hercule in Gluck’s Alceste at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence,  Papageno in Die Zauberflöte at the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse. His strong ties to The Netherlands Opera have resulted in parts in Don Carlo, Un Ballo in maschera, Die Zauberflöte, Meistersinger and Rameau’sCastor et Pollux. He also sang leading roles in three world-premiere productions of contemporary Dutch operas by Wagemans (Legende), Zuidam (Adam in Ballingschap) and Martijn Padding (Laika).