The record label Erato has announced the signing of British baritone Huw Montague Rendall. The partnership will commence with Montague Rendall’s debut album, Contemplation, recorded with the Orchestre de l’Opéra de Rouen Normandie under its music director Ben Glassberg. The album is scheduled for release in September 2024, and will feature songs & arias including those by Mozart, Gounod, Mahler, Korngold, Britten and Richard Rodgers.

Huw Montague Rendall is the son of two opera singers, his mother mezzo-soprano Diana Montague and father tenor David Rendall. He is an alumnus of London’s Royal College of Music and Zurich’s International Opera Studio and has appeared on such major stages as the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Paris Opéra, and at the festivals of Aix-en-Provence, Salzburg and Glyndebourne.

In January 2024 he was named Best Newcomer by Germany’s Oper! Awards, and the 2023-24 season has seen his first appearances at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Staatsoper Hamburg, Teatro Real Madrid and Théâtre des Champs-Elysées in Paris. Among other roles are Debussy’s Pelléas, Mozart’s Count Almaviva and Guglielmo, Donizetti’s Malatesta, Strauss’s Arlekin, Britten’s Ned Keene and Gounod’s Mercutio.

President of Warner Classics & Erato Alain Lanceron said of the signing, ‘Huw is as exceptional for the beauty of his voice as for his impeccable sense of style. Over the six years since I first heard him perform on the operatic stage, I have been struck on every occasion by the way he seems to have both the text and the musical idiom in his blood. As becomes clear from Contemplation, he brings a sense of authenticity to everything he performs, whether in German, French, Italian or English.’

Huw Montague Rendall added: ‘I am deeply honoured to be becoming a part of the Warner/Erato family. Their vast collection of recordings has been a tremendous spring of inspiration for me over the years. I am thrilled to collaborate with this exceptional team for my debut album Contemplation and to have the opportunity to contribute to their remarkable collection.’

www.huwmontaguerendall.com