Bejun Mehta
The American countertenor Bejun Mehta, acclaimed by the Süddeutsche Zeitung as “…arguably the best countertenor in the world” and by The New York Times as “one of the most commanding, exhilarating countertenors of the modern era”, enjoys a renowned and influential world career. Mehta’s application of bel canto technique has changed and expanded what it means to be a modern countertenor. For over twenty-five years, Mehta has performed leading roles—some in productions specifically mounted for him—at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, La Scala Milan, Berlin State Opera, Bavarian State Opera Munich, Hamburg State Opera, Theater an der Wien, Théâtre Royal de La Monnaie, De Nederlandse Opera, Gran Teatre del Liceu Barcelona, Teatro Real Madrid, Zurich Opera, Opéra Nationale de Paris and the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées, the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Glimmerglass, Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Salzburg Festival, Glyndebourne, the Aix-en-Provence and Santa Fe Festivals and the Wiener Festwochen. He has sung virtually all the major roles of his Fach.
As a conductor, Mehta has appeared in sing/conduct programs of the baroque and early classical repertoire with the Riga Sinfonietta, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, hrSinfonieorchester Frankfurt, Dresdner Philharmonie, Kammerakademie Potsdam, Württembergisches Kammerorchester and La Folia, among others. He conducted his first opera, Theodora, at Theater an der Wien in the fall of 2023 with La Folia, directed by Stefan Herheim.
Mehta has been fortunate to have numerous roles and new works written for him, most notably George Benjamin’s Written on Skin, widely considered one of the most important new operas of the 21st century. Benjamin subsequently wrote a solo cantata for Mehta called Dream of the Song which he has performed with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Boston Symphony, among others. Mehta also originated the role of Stefan in Toshio Hosokawa’s Stilles Meer for the Hamburg Staatsoper and gave the world premiere of I am in need of Music by Tobias Picker for the occasion of Marilyn Horne’s 70th Birthday Gala in Carnegie Hall.
In 2023, Bejun Mehta was appointed Professor of Voice at the University for Music and Performing Arts Vienna, being the first countertenor to hold this position.