'[Oliemans] wins through, however, on strength of character and emotional intelligence, injecting a fine energy through the detail, diction and pacing of each song.'
BBC Music Magazine
Thomas Oliemans
Thomas Oliemans
Baritone
Dutch baritone Thomas Oliemans has established himself in recent years as a singer of outstanding musicality and intelligence combined with a compelling stage presence who is at home on the big opera stages as well as in the major concert venues and festivals around the world.
Genre
Classical
Biography
In roles ranging from Hercule in Gluck’s Alceste to Valmont in Francesconi’s Quartett, Thomas Oliemans has performed at Staatsoper Berlin, Royal Opera House, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Staatsoper Hamburg, English National Opera, Teatro Real, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Göteborg Opera, Grand Théâtre de la Ville de Luxembourg, Bergen National Opera, Opera Ballet Vlaanderen, Salzburg Festival, Opéra du Capitole, Theater Basel, Teatro dell’Opera di Roma and Grand Théâtre de Genève.
Oliemans has worked with conductors and ensembles such as Daniel Barenboim, Ivor Bolton, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Simone Young, Raphaël Pichon, Marc Albrecht, Antonello Manacorda, Peter Dijkstra, Jaap van Zweden, Vasily Petrenko, Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Ensemble Pygmalion and Amsterdam Sinfonietta.
A sought-after recitalist, Oliemans has appeared in Oxford, Cambridge, Vienna, Zürich, Stuttgart, Basel, Antwerp, London, New York, Toronto, Tokyo and Paris with pianists Malcolm Martineau, Roger Vignoles, Graham Johnson and Paolo Giacometti. He is a regular guest at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and was an artist-in-residence there during the season 2021/22. He curated the 2019 Delft Chamber Music Festival and was on the jury of the 2019 International Vocal Competition ’s-Hertogenbosch, where he also appeared in recital with Graham Johnson.
Recordings include an album dedicated to French chanson with Amsterdam Sinfonietta, Schumann’s Dichterliebe and song cycles Op. 89 and 90, Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Akamus Berlin and the RIAS Kammerchor under Hans-Christoph Rademann, works by Frank Martin for baritone with Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Schubert’s three song cycles, several volumes of songs by Poulenc and Fauré with Malcolm Martineau, Christus in Bach’s St John Passion with the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century and Frans Brüggen and Shostakovich’s 14th Symphony with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and Gordan Nikolić.
Reviews
'Oliemans and his pianist, Malcolm Martineau, demonstrate their conviction at every turn: these are serious, intelligent performances.'
Gramophone
'A pleasantly uncomplicated interpretation, as subtle as it is artful, which creates a contemporary approach to this music.'
Musikansich
'And so that is how Oliemans and Martineau have interpreted the whole thing. As the composer intended ... Not to be missed in the song lover's record cabinet!'
CultuurPakt