Tenor
Richard Decker, a native of Pennsylvania, made his professional operatic debut in the role of Tamino in Mozart's Die Zauberflöte with the Bronx Opera while attending the Manhattan School of Music in New York. In 1982, while still a student, he took the role of Guido Bardi in the American premiere of Zemlinsky's Eine florentinische Tragödie.
The acclaimed American tenor first came to international attention in 1984 as a finalist in the first Rosa Ponselle International Vocal Competition held in New York, as well as in the third 'Concorso Enrico Caruso' for tenors in Milan, Italy. In the same year he attended the International Opera Studio at Zürich Opera in Switzerland where he made his European debut in the 1984 Eurovision broadcast of Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg celebrating the reopening of the newly renovated Zürich Opera house.
During a four-year spell at the State Theater in Saarbrücken Richard Decker was also a frequent guest at such international festivals as Aix-en-Provence and Macerata, appearing as Ferrando in Così Fan Tutte in 1990. In the same year he completed the transition to the dramatic repertoire with his Vienna State Opera debut in the role of Desportes in Harry Kupfer's production of Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die Soldaten. Since then he has performed at many international opera houses including Opéra National de Paris, San Francisco Opera, Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, Zürich Opera, Royal Opera in Stockholm, Nationale Reisopera Netherlands, Cologne, Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Düsseldorf, Mannheim, Leipzig and Komische Oper Berlin.
He has taken a wide range of roles including Florestan (Fidelio); the title roles of Parsifal, Tristan, and Otello; Paul in Korngold's Die tote Stadt; Erik (Der fliegende Holländer); the roles of Prince in Rusalka, Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos), the Drum Major (Wozzeck). In 2001 Richard Decker was engaged by the Metropolitan Opera in New York as 'cover' for the role of Alwa in five performances of Berg's Lulu. He was subsequently engaged at the Met for the repeat performances of Lulu in the 2002 season. In fact the role has become Richard Decker's most performed role- he has sung it in over 90 performances in opera houses across Europe.
May of 2002 marked Mr. Decker's debut with the Hallé Orchestra of Manchester in two concert performance of the first act of Tristan und Isolde with Mark Elder CBE conducting and Katarina Dalayman as Isolde. In June 2002 Richard Decker made his celebrated debut as Walther von Stolzing in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein with John Fiore conducting. In October 2002 Mr. Decker sang his 40th performance of the role of Otello and thereby creating a debut sensation at the San Francisco Opera. Richard Decker recently made his debut at the Theatre du Capitole in Toulouse in the role of Alwa in Berg's Lulu. In May 2003 he "covered" the role of Tristan while sing the role of Melot in critically acclaimed Nicolas Lehnhoff production of Tristan und Isolde at the Glyndebourne Opera Festival's very first