A former choral scholar at St John’s College, Cambridge, British countertenor Hugh Cutting is a graduate of the Royal College of Music, where he was a member of the International Opera Studio. On graduating, he was awarded the Tagore Gold Medal, presented by King Charles III. In 2021, he became both the first countertenor to win the Kathleen Ferrier Award and the first to be named a BBC New Generation Artist (2022–24).
In the 2024/25 season, Hugh makes several major international opera debuts: La Scala, Milan as Corindo in Cesti’s Orontea, in the United States singing the title role in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice with Dallas Opera, and in Australia as Tolomeo in Giulio Cesare with Pinchgut Opera. He will also appear at the Garsington Festival as Unulfo in Handel’s Rodelinda.
Concerts this season include Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with the NDR Radiophilharmonie Hannover and Bernard Labadie, Messiah with the Tonkunstler Orchestra and Ivor Bolton, St Matthew Passion with the Rotterdam Philharmonic and Jonathan Cohen, and Bach’s solo Cantatas with les Violons du Roy and Bernard Labadie in Quebec City and Montreal. In the 2025/26 season, Hugh curates a residency at Wigmore Hall.
Hugh’s first professional season (2022/23) included his debut at Opernhaus Zürich in works by Monteverdi; Arsace (Partenope) on a European tour with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants; his Wigmore Hall debut; and his U.S. concert debut singing Bach’s St Matthew Passion at Carnegie Hall with Bernard Labadie and the Orchestra of St. Luke’s.
Hugh has since returned to Les Arts Florissants for Polinesso in Ariodante, and sung Arsace (Berenice) with il Pomo d’Oro and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio with Masaaki Suzuki and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. Recent operatic highlights include role debuts as the Boy in George Benjamin’s Written on Skin (Stavanger), Ariel in Anthony Bolton’s The Island of Dreams (Grange Park Opera), and Dardano in Handel’s Amadigi with The English Concert and Harry Bicket.
A passionate advocate for song, Hugh places recital work at the heart of his artistic identity and is committed to expanding the countertenor repertoire in this sphere. Regular recital partners include pianist George Ireland, lutenist Danny Murphy, and composer Piers Connor Kennedy. He has performed at Wigmore Hall, the Oxford International Song Festival, and the Brighton, Cheltenham, and Ryedale Festivals, many of which have been broadcast by BBC Radio 3.
His discography includes Purcell: Royal Odes and Birthday Odes for Queen Mary with The King’s Consort and Robert King (alongside Iestyn Davies and Carolyn Sampson), and Lamento with Iestyn Davies and Fretwork for Signum Classics.