Wm. Clay Thompson
Bass Wm. Clay Thompson is quickly emerging as one of the most exciting young singers of today, having been credited with a “… strong, rich and warm color, yet the ability to cross over into bass-baritone repertoire …”. A native of Lexington, Kentucky, Mr. Thompson is a second-year Resident Artist with Minnesota Opera.
Most recently seen at The Glimmerglass Festival, Mr. Thompson performed the roles of Harašta in The Cunning Little Vixen, Father Palmer in Silent Night and Gladhand in West Side Story. Last season with Minnesota Opera, Clay sang The Notary in Don Pasquale, Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro, Second Prison Guard in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, Count Ceprano in Rigoletto and Palémon in Thaïs.
This season he will perform Crebillon in La Rondine, The French General in Silent Night, Dottore Grenvil in La Traviata and cover Beaupertuis in The Italian Straw Hat. In the 2016–2017 and 2015–2016 seasons, Mr. Thompson was a Studio Artist with Wolf Trap Opera, where he sang Benoit and Alcindoro in Puccini’s La bohème, Suleyman Pasha in Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles, Yakuside in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, covered the role of Collatinus in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia and performed scenes in the Studio Spotlight Scenes Program.
Clay graduated from the University of North Texas, where he performed the leading role of Figaro in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Daniel Webster in Thomson’s The Mother of Us All and Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni. Other roles include; Colline (La bohème) with SOO Opera Theatre, Zuniga (Carmen) with Fort Worth Opera along with Raymond Buck in Fort Worth Opera’s world premiere of JFK, Billy Jackrabbit (La fanciulla del West) with Kentucky Opera, Olin Blitch (Susannah), Mordred (Camelot) and Superintendent Budd (Albert Herring) at Seagle Music Colony, along with Police Sergeant (The Pirates of Penzance), Don Bartolo (Le nozze di Figaro) and Leporello (Don Giovanni) with University of Kentucky Opera Theatre.
Mr. Thompson was a District Winner in the Metropolitan National Council Auditions – Kentucky District in 2013, an Encouragement Award winner in New Orleans District in 2014 and an encouragement Award winner in Tulsa in 2016 and 2017.
Mr. Thompson is a student of Dr. Stephen Morscheck.
