Described by The Guardian as “The finest British bass of his generation,” Alastair Miles is one of the UK’s most renowned singers, returning regularly to the operatic stages and concert platforms of Europe, North America and the Far East. His career was launched when he won the Decca Kathleen Ferrier Prize at London’s Wigmore Hall and his repertoire ranges from J. S. Bach and Handel via Verdi and Wagner to Elgar and Havergal Brian.
He appears regularly at London’s Royal Opera House, where his roles have included Rodolfo La sonnambula, Le Comte des Grieux Manon, Elmiro in Rossini’s Otello, Lord Sidney Il viaggio a Reims, Poliferno in Steffani’s Niobe, Regina di Tebe, Banquo Macbeth and, most recently Le BailliWerther. For English National Opera, his roles have included the title role in Boïto’s Mefistofele, Alfonso d’Este Lucrezia Borgia, Don BasilioThe Barber of Seville, SilvaErnani,ZaccariaNabucco and FordSir John in Love; for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, Commendatore Don Giovanni, Speaker Die Zauberflöte, Fiesco Simon Boccanegra and Pogner Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg; for Grange Park Opera, The Grand InquisitorDon Carlo; For Opera North, Claggart Billy Budd, LeporelloDon Giovanni, Timur Turandot and King Philip 11Don Carlos; for Scottish Opera, Arkel Pelléas et Mélisande; and for Welsh National Opera, MéphistophélèsLa damnation de Faust, Enrico Anna Bolena, Talbot Maria Stuarda and Fiesco Simon Boccanegra.
Elsewhere, engagements have included Giorgio I Puritani and RaimondoLucia di Lammermoor at the Metropolitan Opera, New York; Narbal Les Troyens, RaimondoLucia di Lammermoor, Cardinal BrogniLa Juive, FigaroLe nozze di Figaro, Lodovico Nardi Die Gezeichneten and PognerDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg for the Dutch National Opera; Nourabad Les Pêcheurs des Perles and Bertram Robert le Diable at the Opera di Salerno; ArkelPelléas et Mélisande, Zorastro Orlando, the title role in Saul, Creonte in Mayr’s Medea in Corinto, Timur Turandot and Lodovico NardiDie Gezeichneten for the Bavarian State Opera; PrefttoLinda di Chamonix, Cardinal BrogniLa Juive, PhilippeDon Carlos, Padre Guardiano La forza del destino and ZaccariaNabucco at the Vienna State Opera; Claudio Agrippina at the Opéra de Dijon and the Opéra de Lille; Melisso Alcina and Lord Sidney Il viaggio a Reims at La Scala, Milan; Melisso Alcina at the Salzburg Festival; creating Paulin in Michael Jarrell’s Bérénice at the Opera national de Paris and LeporelloDon Giovanni for the Flanders Opera; Dr Bartolo / Antonio Le nozze di Figaro with the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra; Filippo11 Don Carlo for the Deutsche Oper, Berlin, and at the Teatro Real, Madrid; Nick ShadowThe Rake’s Progress and Count WalterLuisa Miller at the Theater an der Wien; and Daland Der fliegende Holländer for the Opéra Royal de Wallonie, Liège.
A highly sought-after concert artist, Alastair Miles has sung with conductors including Maurizio Bernini, Ivor Bolton, Martyn Brabbins, Myung-Whun Chung, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Mark Elder, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Valery Gergiev, Carlo Maria Giulini, Daniel Harding, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Andrew Litton, Sir Charles Mackerras, Kurt Masur, Riccardo Muti, John Nelson, Sir Roger Norrington, Jonathan Nott, Seiji Ozawa, David Parry, Trevor Pinnock, Sir Simon Rattle, Helmuth Rilling, Donald Runnicles, Andreas Spering and Robin Ticciati. He has made over ninety recordings, including a recital disc of Brahms and Wolf for Signum Classics; a recital disc of Great Operatic Arias for Chandos; Raimondo Lucia di Lammermoor for Sony Classical; Alidoro La cenerentola, TiresiasOedipus Rex and Monterone Rigoletto for Warner Classics; Le Gouverneur Le Comte Ory for DG; Beethoven Mass in C and Handel Messiah for LSO Live; award-winning recordings of Beethoven Missa Solemnis and Verdi Requiem with Sir John Eliot Gardiner for DG Archive and Philips; Berlioz L’Enfance du Christ with Robin Ticciati for Linn Records; Brian Symphony No. 1 and Elgar Caractacus with Martyn Brabbins for Hyperíon; Handel L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato for Erato; Elijah with Kurt Masur for Teledec; and Mozart Requiem for Belvedere. With Opera Rara, he has recorded Giustiniano Belisario, Dom Juam de SylvaDom Sebastien, roi de Portugal,Gualtiero CliffordRosomonda d’Inghilterra, Vecchio OraziOrazi e Curiazi, Carlo Margherita d’Anjou, OrosmaneZaira,Ircano Ricciardo e Zoraide, Le Commandeur de Baeupré La Cour de Célimène and Il Salotto, Volume 1.
Recent engagements have included StrommingerLa Wally at the Theater an der Wien (now available on Unitel DVD / Blu-Ray), Arkel Pelléas et Mélisande for the Orchestre national de France, Melisso Alcina and Father TruloveThe Rake’s Progress for Glyndebourne Festival Opera, further performances as Le Bailli Werther and Crespel Les contes d’Hoffmann for London’s Royal Ballet & Opera, Commendatore Don Giovanni at Zurich Opera, Prospero Miranda for Oper Köln, Don Basilio The Barber of Seville for English National Opera, Silva Ernani at Buxton International Festival and Pistola Falstaff for Scottish Opera.
Engagements during 2025 / 2026 include Lord Gordon Mary, Queen of Scots for English National Opera, Claudius Hamlet for Buxton International Festival and Le spectre du Roi Hamlet at Teatro Regio di Torino. In concert, he sings Arkel Pelléas et Mélisande with BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis at the 2025 Enescu Festival in Bucharest, Berlioz’s L’Enfance du Christ for Cambridge Philharmonic Society, Schumann’s Szenen aus Goethes Faust with with Orquesta y Coro nacionales de España and Verdi Requiem with Royal Choral Society.
Alastair Miles received a 2024 Santley Award from The Worshipful Company of Musicians.