By a wonderful piece of serendipity, I met Scott Wilde after seeing him play Judge Turpin in the New Year’s Eve 2024 performance of Sweeney Todd at the Komische Oper in Berlin.
Try though we might to find a bar that had room for Scott, his wife Antonia Parri, and me, on NYE in Berlin, with fireworks exploding in the streets during the performance, we searched in vain and ended up meeting the following afternoon for coffee and a long chat about Wilde’s career: from Milwaukee Wisconsin to achieving a BA in Music at Manhattan School of Music – then to Juilliard, where he was a classmate of many well-known musicians.
Read: Music theatre review: Sweeney Todd, Komische Oper Berlin, Schiller Theatre Berlin
After Juilliard, early engagements took him to opera houses including San Francisco Opera, New York City Opera, Washington Opera, Baltimore Opera and Opera Theater of St Louis. He lived and performed in Dresden for four years after his time in San Francisco, where he sang Sarastro in The Magic Flute and Daland in The Flying Dutchman (and later in Scottish Opera) was a notable role.
Wilde is based in Mallorca, where Parri is a teacher – it’s a very convenient, and pleasant, place that enables travelling to gigs in Europe at a moment’s notice.
Before settling in Europe, Wilde performed for eight seasons, some of them back in San Francisco while he was based in Dresden, there working with acclaimed director Lotfi Mansouri, among others. He sang such roles as Monterone in Rigoletto, Abimelech in Samson and Delilah and The Speaker in The Magic Flute, the last a favourite opera.
Among other notable directors Wilde has worked with Robert Wilson who directed him playing Lo Zio Bonzo in Madama Butterfly, and Der Einarmige in Die Frau ohne Schatten at The Opéra National de Paris; Christof Loy (Il Trittico) at the Salzburg Festival and upcoming at the Opéra National de Paris; and Àlex Ollé’ in his production of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk. Ollé is co-founder of the acclaimed Spanish company La Fura dels Baus, which visited the Sydney Arts Festival in 1989 with the stunning Suz/O/Suz. Wilde also played Arkel in David Pountney’s Pelléas et Melisande for the Welsh National Opera.
He has sung just about every role for bass voices, which means he is well-versed in the pantheon of opera ‘baddies’. His Judge Turpin, which I had seen the previous evening, being one of the darker characters. Barrie Kosky’s direction for Turpin left us in no doubt as to the heavy-breathing judge’s depravity.
Wilde’s international career continues with an impressive list of credits ongoing, as he is in demand. He is living the performer’s dream – constant stimulating work and acclaim, and being paid to do it!
For more on Scott Wilde’s career and roles to date.
