British tenor Christopher Willoughby’s 2026-27 season sees him join the Ensemble of Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz in Munich with particular highlights of his season being Candide in Bernstein’s ‘Candide’, Camille, Count de Rossillon in Lehárs ‘Die Lustige Witwe’. The coming season will also see him debut as tenor soloist in Beethoven’s ninth symphony at the Gewandhaus, Leipzig and as Evangelist in Handel’s ‘Brockes-Passion’ at the Barbican in London with the Academy of Ancient Music.  

He comes to Gärtnerplatz after spending the 2025-26 season in the ensemble of  Staatstheater Darmstadt which saw him make role debuts as Don Ottavio in Mozart’s ‘Don Giovanni’ and Andres in Berg’s ‘Wozzeck’. 

Prior to this he spent two years as a member of the renowned ‘Internationales Opernstudio’ of Opernhaus Zürich. During his time in Zürich Christopher Willoughby sang a wide variety of roles including Basilio in Mozart’s ‘Le nozze di Figaro’, a televised production of ‘Les contes d’Hoffmann’ by Offenbach as Nathanaël alongside Saimir Pirgu in the title role and himself sang the lead role of Max in the World Premiere production of ‘In 80 Tagen um die Welt’ by Jonathan Dove.

The 25/26 season also saw him jump in as the Evangelist in Bach’s ‘St John Passion’ to great acclaim at the Tiroler Festspiele, Erl and his role debut as Gerontius in Edward Elgar’s masterpiece ‘The Dream of Gerontius’ in London. Christopher Willoughby’s passion for oratorio began at an early age during his time as a chorister in the Choir of Westminster Abbey and continued throughout his training at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna under the tutelage of Professor Margit Klaushofer. During his time in Vienna he made debuts in the title role of Mozart’s ‘Idomeneo’ and as Grimoaldo in Händel’s ‘Rodelinda’ at the theatre of Schönbrunn Palace. 

Other past highlights have included appearances in the Melk International Festival alongside Michael Schade and his debut with ‘Concentus Musikus’ in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein, tenor soloist in Haydn’s ‘Die Schöpfung’ in the Schlosstheater Schönbrunn and his debut at the Verbier Festival as Tom Rakewell in ‘The Rake’s Progress’ by Stravinsky under the baton of James Gaffigan.