Peter Van Hulle

British character tenor Peter Van Hulle read music at Leeds University, furthering his studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the National Opera Studio.

His many recent operatic engagements include his house debut this season at the Staatsoper Stuttgart as Gustav von Aschenbach Death in Venice, a role he also sang for Welsh National Opera (together with Hotel Porter) as part of the company's award-winning 2024 production, alongside his debuts for both Irish National Opera as Valzacchi Der Rosenkavalier and for Glyndebourne Touring Opera as Parpignol/Death La bohème, and a return to West Green House as Bardolfo.

His current and future plans include a return to Irish National Opera as Goro Madama Butterfly, Don Basilio Le nozze di Figaro with Diva Opera in the UK and France, and his debut at Opera North as the Butcher in David Fennessy’s Pass the Spoon.

His many other career highlights include Hotel Porter Death in Venice at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, the Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie, Brussels, the Dutch National Opera and English National Opera (as well as in concert at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam), with other ENO appearances including Pong Turandot, Snout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Idiot/Der Narr Wozzeck (also with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra), Vogelgesang Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Shepherd Tristan und Isolde, as well as Charles Lamb in Sally Beamish’s Monster, Rector Peter Grimes, Schoolmaster The Cunning Little Vixen, Monostatos The Magic Flute, Goro Madama Butterfly, Tchaplitsky The Queen of Spades, Dr Caius Falstaff, Young Sailor Tristan und Isolde and First Brother The Seven Deadly Sins (all for Scottish Opera) and, for Welsh National Opera, Sir Bruno Robertson I Puritani, The Schoolmaster The Cunning Little Vixen and Valzacchi Der Rosenkavalier.  His other roles include Mime Siegfried for Longborough Festival Opera, Spoletta Tosca for Opera Holland Park, Basilio Le Nozze di Figaro for English Touring Opera, and Bardolfo Falstaff in concert with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Edward Gardner. He has also twice toured Japan as The Mad Woman Curlew River and sang Male Chorus The Rape of Lucretia at the National Theatre, Budapest, and the New Theatre, Szeged. Other roles include Time/Peter Doody The Arcadians and multiple roles Sweeney Toldd both for Opera della Luna, Torquemada L’Heure Espagnole for Mid Wales Opera, Eisenstein Die Fledermaus for West Green House Opera, The Messenger Aïda for Cambridge Philharmonic and First Brother The Seven Deadly Sins at Wilton’s Music Hall.

He is well-known for his work in late 20th century and contemporary repertoire and, alongside his performance in Monster, his contemporary engagements have included Slave in Stuart MacRae’s The Assassin Tree for the Royal Opera House, London (also at the Edinburgh Festival), and the role of  Charlie Despard in Edward Rushton’s The Young Man and the Carnation at the Almeida, Buxton and Edinburgh Festivals. He also appeared in Scottish Opera’s Five: 15 Made in Scotland project.

In concert, he has sung with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, his repertoire including J. S. Bach B Minor Mass, Christmas Oratorio and St John Passion, Britten St Nicolas, Handel Messiah and Samson, Elgar The Kingdom, Haydn The Creation, Mendelssohn Elijah, Mozart Requiem, Rossini Petite Messe Solennelle and Stabat Mater and Verdi Requiem. He has also toured with the Rambert Dance Company singing Britten Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings and with Birmingham Royal Ballet singing Stravinsky Pulcinella.

His performance in Deborah Warner’s Death in Venice is available on Opus Arte DVD, and his other recordings include The Schoolmaster, Mosquito and Grasshopper The Cunning Little Vixen with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin conducted by Kent Nagano for BBC TV.