Now firmly established as a Wagnerian name to note, Derek Welton made his first foray into this repertoire as Donner (Das Rheingold) under Richard Farnes at Opera North in 2011. He subsequently appeared as Klingsor (Parsifal) at the Beijing Music Festival before joining an all-star cast at Semperoper Dresden for his first Heerrufer (Lohengrin), conducted by Christian Thielemann and subsequently released on DVD. Welton debuted at the 2017 Bayreuth Festival as Klingsor under Hartmut Haenchen and was highly acclaimed for his first Wotan (Das Rheingold) at Deutsche Oper Berlin in the final presentation of the historic Götz Friedrich production.

The 2019–20 season opened with concert performances of Bluebeard’s Castle at the Enescu Festival under the baton of Christian Mandeal, and further included his role debut as Orest (Elektra) at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia under Marc Albrecht and Wotan in Deutsche Oper Berlin’s new production of Das Rheingold directed by Stefan Herheim, and conducted by Donald Runnicles. Concert highlights include Act II of Fidelio with the Hallé Orchestra and Sir Mark Elder, and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with Sydney Symphony Orchestra and Runnicles, and The Dream of Gerontius with the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra under James Judd.

A native of Australia, Welton is a member of the ensemble of Deutsche Oper Berlin where he has amassed a wide repertory of roles.  Welton made his debut at the 2017 Salzburger Festspiele as Herzog von Albany in Aribert Reimann’s Lear conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, a role he reprised last season at Maggio Musicale under Fabio Luisi alongside two important house debuts: at Lyric Opera of Chicago as Pandolfe (Cendrillon) under Sir Andrew Davis, and at Bayerische Staatsoper as Klingsor under Kirill Petrenko. An accomplished concert performer, Derek has recently appeared in The Epic of Gilgamesh, A Child of Our Time, Glagolitic Mass, The Dream of Gerontius and the Messiah with renowned orchestras around the world.