Biography

British bass-baritone Edward Grint studied at King’s College, Cambridge as a choral scholar, and at the International Benjamin Britten Opera School at The Royal College of Music. Edward was awarded 2nd prize at the 3rd International Singing Competition for Baroque Opera Pietro Antonio Cesti in Innsbruck, was a finalist in the 2014 London Handel Competition, and won the Clermont Ferrand competition in France.

On the operatic stage, Edward’s roles include Polyphemus Acis and Galatea (Opera Avignon), Arcas Iphigenie en Aulide (Theater an der Wien), Adonis Venus and Adonis, Aeneas Dido and Aeneas (Innsbruck Festival), Father Akita in Neige by Catherine Kontz (Grand Theatre Luxembourg) and Teobaldo Faramondo by Handel (Göttingen Handel Festival). At the Royal College of Music, Edward performed Count AlmavivaLe Nozze di Figaro, Isacio Riccardo Primo (London Handel Festival), Splendiano Djamileh, Mr Delancey Aqualung (World Premiere), Garibaldo Rodelinda and Tirenio Il Pastor Fido (LHF), John Styx Orpheus in the Underworld, 2nd Priest/Armed man Die Zauberflöte, Micha The Bartered Bride. Other roles performed include Colonel Patience (Musée D’Orsay, Paris), Hobson Peter GrimesMother Die Sieben Tödsunden (Cuenca Festival), Thoas Iphigenie en Tauride (Euphonia), Zaretsky Eugene Onegin (Ryedale Festival), Guglielmo Cosi fan tutte for the Rye Festival, Achilla Giulio Cesare in Amsterdam under Michael Chance, and Polyphemus Acis and Galatea with Laurence Cummings in London.

In concert Edward has performed with many of the UK’s leading ensembles. Highlights include Bach and Kuhnau Cantatas with The King’s Consort (Wigmore Hall), Bach St. Matthew Passion (London Handel Festival and The King’s Consort), St. John Passion (Les Musiciens du Louvre, St. Paul’s Cathedral with the London Mozart Players), Magnificat with the Orchestra of the Age of the Enlightenment (Valletta Baroque Festival, Malta), Bach Coffee Cantata with Laurence Cummings and the Adderbury Ensemble (Holywell Music Rooms, Oxford), Haydn’s Creation, Handel  Israel in Egypt (King’s College Cambridge), Messiah (City of London Sinfonia, and Birmingham with Ex Cathedra), Handel Dixit Dominus in Cambridge, Brahms Requiem (Cadogan Hall), Verdi Requiem (West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge), Britten War Requiem (Huddersfield Town Hall),  Elgar Dream of Gerontius (Ely Cathedral and Cadogan Hall), and Vaughan Williams Sea Symphony (National Festival Orchestra). Other appearances include Missa Solemnis at the Three Choirs festival, Polyphemus Acis and Galatea under Damien Guillon (Clermont Ferrand, Avignon and Rennes) and Arvo Pärt’s Passio in King’s Place, London, and King’s College Cambridge and Gelone Orontea with David Bates and La Nuova Musica at the Wigmore Hall.

Edward also performed ElijahChristmas OratorioMessiah, new compositions by Vasco Mendonca in Mexico City (Sponsored by Rolex), a programme of Bach with the OAE, Chandos Te Deum for the London Handel Festival, Il Re Ariodante with Opera Theatre Company, Brockes Passion with King’s College Cambridge, Messiah and Monteverdi Vespers with the Dunedin Consort, and Polyphemus Acis and Galatea at the Festival de La Chaise Dieu with Damien Guillon.

With a keen interest in contemporary music, Edward has performed Brother The House Taken Over by Vasco Mendonca (Aix en Provence, Strasbourg and Antwerp), the world premiere of The Cool Web – A Robert Graves Oratorio by Jools Scott in Bath Abbey, and Eddy in Mark Anthony Turnage’s Greek in the UK and Korea with Music Theatre Wales.  He also recorded the role of The Poet in Edward Hughes’ new opera When the Flame Dies and the role of Gavin Waylock in Joe St. Johanser Clarges. In recital Edward has performed Brahms Vier Ernste Gesänge, Dvorak Biblical Songs, Finzi Earth and Air and Rain and Let us Garlands Bring, Vaughan Williams Songs of Travel, Schumann Liederkreis op. 24 and Ravel Don Quichotte cycles. Edward has also recorded the baritone solo in Faure Requiem (BBC Concert Orchestra) for a BBC Radio 2 broadcast, High Priest, Judas and Pilate in St Mark’s Passion by Charles Wood and Peter in Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s contemporary opera The Last Supper with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra.

Further engagements include Elviro Xerxes under Christian Curnyn at St John’s Smith Square, Verdi Requiem with the North London Chorus, a programme of Monteverdi Madrigals with Les Arts Florissants and Paul Agnew, Sylvano La Calisto with La Nuova Musica and David Bates, a return visit to Clermont-Ferrand to sing The Lovers by Barber, the complete cycle of Gesualdo Madrigals with Les Arts Florissants and Schütz Christmas Story with the King’s Consort.

Recent engagements include Polypheme in Handel’s Aci, Galatee e Polypheme at the Wigmore Hall with the London Handel Festival, St John Passion and Dixit Dominus with Les Musiciens du Louvre (Minkowski), Creation with the Royal Choral Society, Handel’s Susanna at the Halle Handel Festival,  Brahms Requiem at St Alban’s Cathedral, Mass in B Minor with the Gabrieli consort, Handel Chandos Anthems at Händel-Festspiele Halle, Christmas OratorioMessiah and Venus and Adonis with the Dunedin Consort, Acis & Galatea for the London Handel Festival and Dona Nobis Pacem and Dream of Gerontius at Canterbury Cathedral and Handel Dixit Dominus with Les Musiciens du Louvre.  Edward also appeared in Mozart Mass in C Minor at the Salzburg Festival (Norrington), Acis & Galatea with Banquet Celeste, The Cool Web – A Robert Graves Oratorio at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Chandos Anthems at the London Handel Festival, Mass in C Minor with the Presidential Symphony Orchestra in Turkey, Sorceress/Spirit Dido and Aeneas with the LPO (Norrington), Mass in B Minor with the BBC Symphony Orchestra (Butt), Dream of Gerontius at St Botolph’s, Colchester, and Dvorak Stabat Mater in Bedford. 

Engagements in 2022/23 include Carissimi’s Jepthe with Paul Agnew and Les Arts Florissants, Polifemo in Handel’s Aci, Galatee e Polifemo in Oxford, Aeneas in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas with Dame Sarah Connolly and the Early Music Company (Christian Curnyn), Melisso in Handel’s Alcina at the Royal Opera House, Handel’s Messiah with The Kings Consort, Purcell, Charpentier and Campra at the Vienna Konzerthaus, Handel Chandos Anthems for the London Handel Festival and recordings of Bach Cantatas for Les Arts Florissants.