Episode 163: Randall Scotting
Countertenor Randall Scotting has quickly become a sought-after artist by many of the world’s leading opera houses and concert halls. He’s recently made standout debuts at The Royal Opera House, Bayerische Staatsoper, and Staatsoper Hamburg. He also sang first time at La Fenice in Venice in the major role of Adonis in Sciarrino’s Venere e Adone, and he makes his Carnegie Hall debut in Handel’s Messiah. March 2026 also brings the release of his next album on the Signum label with the Academy of Ancient Music and Laurence Cummings, The Divine Impresario, featuring virtuoso castrato arias.
Randall’s breakthrough came in 2019 at London’s Royal Opera House when he stepped in last-minute for Sir David McVicar’s production of Britten’s Death in Venice. His performance drew praise for “singing brilliantly,” and he went on to complete the run to sold-out houses, with the production also being broadcast on the BBC. That success led directly to his joining the Metropolitan Opera’s roster, and he’s since become a regular on the world’s top stages.
Randall’s portrayal of the Refugee in Jonathan Dove’s Flight (Seattle Opera, 2021) drew glowing reviews—“marvelous,” “compelling,” “warm, focused, and fluid.” In 2023 he originated the role of Adonis in the world premiere of Sciarrino’s Venere e Adone at Staatsoper Hamburg with Kent Nagano, earning praise as “vocally and physically muscular,” “wonderfully strong and supple,” and “luminous.”
Randall is also making his mark as a recording artist. His 2022 debut solo album The Crown, recorded with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment and conductor Laurence Cummings, introduced modern-day premieres of show-piece arias composed for the legendary castrato Senesino and he won international acclaim for “ravishing vocalism” and ““impressive beauty and warmth” tone. His follow-up, Lovesick with Grammy-winner and lutenist Stephen Stubbs, offered intimate lute and folk songs and drew glowing reviews from Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and Limelight, which called it “gorgeous” and “beautifully sung”. “Most recently, Infinite Refrain with the Academy of Ancient Music explores 17th-century works by Monteverdi and his contemporaries through the lens of gay love, praised as both “vibrantly seductive” and “a strikingly beautiful declaration of same-sex love”.
