Winning critical acclaim for “vocal heft, clarion sound and stamina” (The New York Times) and for performances described as “close to perfection – powerful, subtle, intelligent, every word crystal clear” (Financial Times), American Heldentenor Clay Hilley continues to garner success in an ever-growing list of opera’s most monumental heroic roles. He is the winner of the 2024 Richard Tucker Music Foundation Award and is proud to represent the legacy of one of the greatest American tenors of the last one hundred years by carrying the honor forward into the 21st century.
During the 2025–26 season, Clay Hilley’s remarkable diary includes the title role of Tristan und Isolde in new productions by Michael Thalheimer at Deutsche Oper Berlin conducted by Sir Donald Runnicles and by Bárbara Lluch at the Gran Teatre del Liceu conducted by Susanna Mälkki. In demand at the top international opera houses of the world, return engagements of the season bring him back to the Wiener Staatsoper in the title role of Tannhäuser and as Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos, back to the Bayerische Staatsoper in the title role of Parsifal, and to his “home company” Deutsche Oper Berlin for a revival of Stefan Herheim’s production of Der Ring des Nibelungen. The tenor joins Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra on a European tour of concert performances of Siegfried and shares the stage with his frequent musical partner Sir Antonio Pappano in concert performances of Tristan und Isolde with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Centre and on tour in Europe.
He made his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in the 2023/24 season with Die Walküre (Act I).