Biography

Winning critical acclaim for “vocal heft, clarion sound and stamina” (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.

Last season Clay Hilley made his celebrated debut at the Wiener Staatsoper in the title role of Tannhäuser in a new production directed by Lydia Steier and conducted by Music Director Philippe Jordan. Other highlights included Der Kaiser in a new production of Die Frau ohne Schatten directed by Tobias Kratzer and led by Sir Donald Runnicles at Deutsche Oper Berlin, as well as revivals at Deutsche Oper Berlin of Tannhäuser conducted by Axel Kober and Tristan und Isolde led by Petr Popelka and Sir Donald Runnicles. On the concert stage Hilley made a debut with l’Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal in performances of Gurre-Lieder led by Music Director Rafael Payare, and he was tenor soloist in Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with Sir Simon Rattle and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and with Juraj Valčuha leading the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Japan.

Highlights of the recent past include a role debut as Calaf in Turandot at Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi Trieste, the title role of Parsifal at the Bayerische Staatsoper marking his first collaboration with renowned Wagner conductor Ádám Fischer, and performances of the First Act of Die Walküre for his debut at the Gran Teatre del Liceu and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde (Schoenberg arr.) with Sir Donald Runnicles at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

After stepping into the premiere of Bayreuth’s new Götterdämmerung on one day’s notice in 2022, Hilley returned to the Bayreuth Festival during the 2023 season in the title role of Tristan und Isolde. The 2023-24 season saw his debut as the title role of Tannhäuser at the Edinburgh International Festival in a concert performance with Sir Donald Runnicles and later with the Deutsche Oper Berlin in fully-staged performances in Berlin led by Pietari Inkinen; a house debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in the title role of Parsifal; and a return to the Deutsche Oper Berlin in a revival of Stefan Herheim’s production of Der Ring des Nibelungen. The tenor also joined the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Music Director Karina Canellakis for a concert performance of Siegfried at Amsterdam’s venerable Concertgebouw.

Beyond Wagner, Clay Hilley has appeared as Beethoven’s Florestan (Fidelio) for the Canadian Opera Company, with conductor Johannes Debus, Strauss’s Bacchus (Ariadne auf Naxos) at the Hong Kong Arts Festival with the orchestra of the Bayerische Staatsoper under Patrick Lange, and in his Staatsoper Hamburg debut as Laca in Janáček’s Jenůfa in performances conducted by Tomáš Netopil.

Vocally and dramatically assured in even the most challenging repertoire, recent high-profile role debuts include Der Kaiser in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten with the Berlin Philharmonic and Kirill Petrenko, both in concert at the Berlin Philharmonie and in a new staging by Lydia Steier at the Baden-Baden Festival, as well as the Drum Major in Deborah Warner’s new production of Berg’s Wozzeck for the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, conducted by Music Director Sir Antonio Pappano – also the tenor’s company debut.

An artist accomplished on the world’s leading concert stages, recent highlights include Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with Marin Alsop and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival, and Das Lied von der Erde with the Houston Symphony and Juraj Valčuha, Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra and Stéphane Denève, and with the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia under Sir Antonio Pappano – where he subsequently returned for Kodaly’s Psalmus Hungaricus.

Concert performances of opera are also a fixture of the busy tenor’s schedule: Clay Hilley has been heard as Florestan (Fidelio) for both Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under Robert Spano and the Edinburgh International Festival with Sir Donald Runnicles and The Philharmonia; in Act Two of Tristan und Isolde with Edward Gardner and the Orchestra of the Norwegian National Opera; in Act Three of Siegfried with Erik Nielsen and the Bilbao Symphony; and as Radamès in Act Three of Aida with Nicola Luisotti and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.

The tenor’s burgeoning video catalogue includes Der Ring des Nibelungen from Deutsche Oper Berlin (Naxos) – about which Opera News wrote, “Vocally, he’s the finest Siegfried on DVD, with ringing top notes, perfect diction and impressive tonal flexibility” – and Götterdämmerung filmed at the Bayreuth Festival (Deutsche Grammophon).