{"id":4566,"date":"2026-04-14T12:11:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T12:11:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/4566\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T12:11:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T12:11:38","slug":"dean-murphy-interview-deutsche-oper-berlin-figaro-and-life-beyond-the-ensemble-classical-music-and-opera-features","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/4566\/","title":{"rendered":"Dean Murphy interview \u2013 Deutsche Oper Berlin, Figaro, and life beyond the ensemble | Classical Music and Opera Features"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dean\"DeanDean Murphy in The Queen of Spades (Photo: Marcus Lieberenz)<\/p>\n

Over the past few seasons, American baritone Dean Murphy has established himself as one of the most exciting young singers to emerge from Germany\u2019s operatic ensemble system.<\/p>\n

He first came to my attention at the Deutsche Oper Berlin as the Heerufer in Lohengrin <\/a>\u2013 a role that may not dominate the evening, but certainly doesn\u2019t pass unnoticed when sung with conviction. When Murphy opened his mouth, it was one of those rare moments that makes you sit up and wonder: who on earth is that? The voice that emerged had presence and authority; it demanded attention.<\/p>\n

Since joining the Deutsche Oper ensemble seven seasons ago, he has taken on a wide range of roles, from Germont in La traviata to Yeletsky in The Queen of Spades, steadily building a reputation for musical assurance and stylistic intelligence. Now, as he prepares to leave ensemble life and pursue a freelance career, the timing feels right. Fresh from singing Rossini\u2019s Figaro in San Diego and with Mozart\u2019s Count Almaviva awaiting him in Boston next season \u2013 a homecoming of sorts \u2013 this feels like a natural moment to step out on his own.<\/p>\n

As his time in the Deutsche Oper ensemble draws to a close, Murphy is full of gratitude for what the company has given him. \u201cIt was exactly the right place for me to be\u201d, he says. \u201cI was able to learn many roles and styles of music in a relatively safe environment.\u201d Central to that experience was the theatre\u2019s Opera Director, Christoph Seuferle, whom Murphy praises warmly. \u201cHe is one of the kindest and most respected people in this business and is also very clever with which roles he gives to you and when.\u201d The result was a steady expansion of repertoire. \u201cHe gave me so many roles that I didn\u2019t even realise I would be able to do, and they fit like a glove.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Seuferle now leaving the company, Murphy feels the moment has arrived to move on. \u201cI feel as though I have enough roles under my belt, and now that Christoph is leaving, it\u2019s time for me to spread my wings and go for a full-blown freelance career.\u201d Looking back on his time in Berlin, he sees it as a period of both musical and personal development. \u201cI feel as though I have done a lot of growing up here\u201d, he reflects. \u201cI\u2019ve built my voice and learned so much about how to prepare my roles both musically and dramatically.\u201d Ensemble life, with its relentless pace, can sometimes feel demanding. \u201cSometimes I wish we had more time\u2026 but that\u2019s simply how the German system goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe gave me so many roles that I didn\u2019t even realise I would be able to do, and they fit like a glove\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, the experience has left a lasting impression. \u201cThe most important thing I\u2019ve learned is to cherish every time you get to go on stage but also don\u2019t let yourself get too nervous.\u201d Freelance life, he hopes, will offer the chance to approach roles with more space and perspective. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to having more time to dig deeper into roles and to also meet more people \u2013 to collaborate with and audiences to sing for! Every city\u2019s audience really brings a different vibe to the performance and I enjoy getting to absorb each audience\u2019s energy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Murphy\u2019s path into opera began with a moment of revelation. Watching Ren\u00e9e Fleming<\/a> sing Rusalka\u2019s \u201cSong to the Moon\u201d at the 1991 Richard Tucker Gala proved decisive. \u201cWhen she went up to the B flat at the end, I immediately got goosebumps\u201d, he recalls. \u201cI haven\u2019t looked back since that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dean\"DeanDean Murphy in The Queen of Spades (Photo: Marcus Lieberenz)<\/p>\n

Teachers soon played a decisive role in shaping his musical instincts. During his undergraduate years he worked closely with the pianist Eric Trudel, who, he says, \u201creally taught me what it takes to prepare music properly, with attention to detail and language.\u201d Trudel also introduced him to the voice teacher Valerie Sorel, with whom Murphy has now studied for more than a decade. \u201cShe really built my voice and taught me how to do so on my own too.\u201d Alongside Sorel he continues to work closely with the coach Elda Laro at Deutsche Oper Berlin. \u201cI coach nearly everything I do with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was during college that Murphy realised where his voice truly lay. \u201cThat\u2019s when I realised that I was a baritone\u201d, he says. When he first began working with Sorel, the voice was still developing. \u201cWhen I came to her, I had no high notes \u2013 couldn\u2019t sing above an E flat\u2026 and now Rossini\u2019s Figaro is my most-performed role!\u201d The experience reinforced his belief in the importance of having sound guidance. \u201cHaving the right voice teacher on your side throughout this career is absolutely necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

That grounding has allowed Murphy to move comfortably between different styles of repertoire. He recently sang Figaro in Rossini\u2019s Il barbiere di Siviglia in San Diego and will soon return to his home city of Boston to sing Count Almaviva in Mozart\u2019s Le nozze di Figaro. \u201cI truly cannot express how excited I am to sing such an important role as my debut in my home city!\u201d he says. The connection runs deep: the first opera he ever attended there was, fittingly, Il barbiere di Siviglia.<\/p>\n

\u201cI truly cannot express how excited I am to sing such an important role as my debut in my home city!\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the two Figaro operas, however, his sympathies lie firmly with Mozart. \u201cI strongly prefer singing the Count\u201d, he admits. \u201cHe\u2019s much more complex and there\u2019s more to dig into dramatically.\u201d Rossini\u2019s Figaro, by contrast, is largely defined by vocal brilliance. \u201cHe\u2019s fun but he\u2019s not a very deep character \u2013 people are mostly looking for the vocal fireworks with him.\u201d With Mozart, the emotional range is broader. \u201cWith the Count I get to sing beautiful music and also have the chance to show how emotionally erratic he is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another role that has made a strong impression on him is Yeletsky in Tchaikovsky\u2019s The Queen of Spades. The famous aria \u201cYa vas lyublyu\u201d demands long legato lines, while the later casino scene pushes the voice in a far more dramatic direction. \u201cYeletsky absolutely poses some technical difficulties\u2026 you really have to learn how to sing soaring legato lines\u201d, he says. \u201cBut I really enjoyed singing Yeletsky because I got the chance to show my ability to sing lyrically, but also let loose at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Dean\"DeanDean Murphy (on the left) in Lohengrin (Photo: Bettina Stoess)<\/p>\n

As his voice continues to develop, Murphy remains careful about how he approaches heavier repertoire. \u201cI\u2019m consciously holding back from singing roles that would require me to sing with an orchestra that I can\u2019t compete with.\u201d Still, he has no shortage of ambitions. Among the roles he hopes to explore are Billy Budd, Hamlet (Thomas), Rodrigo, Malatesta and Don Giovanni. Tchaikovsky\u2019s Eugene Onegin is already on the horizon.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy soul really feels the romantic repertoire more than anything else\u201d, he says. \u201cAnd I will sing Onegin in a future season\u2026 I\u2019m looking forward to that. I think the final scene between Onegin and Tatyana is one of the best scenes in all of opera.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in the meantime, he returns to the Deutsche Oper stage as Demetrius in Britten\u2019s A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream. \u201cPeople always say that the lovers in Midsummer tend to fall flat \u2013 which can be true\u201d, he says with a smile. Still, he is enthusiastic about the production and the ensemble around him. \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to revisiting Demetrius and breathing some new life into him with a fantastic bunch of singers from the ensemble.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have eight performances left on that stage and it\u2019s bittersweet indeed. I\u2019ve grown up here\u201d<\/p>\n

Leaving the Deutsche Oper after so many seasons inevitably brings mixed emotions. \u201cIt has just started to hit me\u201d, he says. \u201cI have eight performances left on that stage and it\u2019s bittersweet indeed. I\u2019ve grown up here.\u201d He arrived at the company at twenty-five, left briefly to join the opera studio in Z\u00fcrich, and returned in 2020 as a full ensemble member. Since then he has sung more than 250 performances. \u201cNeedless to say, this has become my home.\u201d<\/p>\n

What stands out most, he says, is the atmosphere within the company. \u201cThe people here are fantastic and very nurturing \u2013 especially as mentioned earlier, Christoph Seuferle. He has such great ears and really knows voices.\u201d Murphy is quick to emphasise how much the experience has meant to him. \u201cI\u2019ve really felt as though I\u2019ve been taken care of here.\u201d He hopes it won\u2019t be a permanent farewell. \u201cI will miss it very very much. I hope I get the chance to return in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, though, the focus is firmly on what lies ahead. \u201cWhat excites me most is getting to dive into new repertoire and work with new people\u201d, he says. \u201cI strongly believe this is how you grow as an artist and continue to hone in on what you do best.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the operatic roles already on his wish list, he is also eager to explore more concert repertoire, including works such as Carmina Burana, Mendelssohn\u2019s Elijah and Brahms\u2019 Ein deutsches Requiem.<\/p>\n

Above all, Murphy retains a clear sense of perspective about the profession he has chosen. \u201cI\u2019m ultimately very excited for the fact that things are continuing and I\u2019m able to make a living from singing\u201d, he says. \u201cIt\u2019s truly a dream come true \u2013 and I never thought I would even get to where I am today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dean Murphy sings Demetrius in the Deutsche Oper\u2019s revival of Ted Huffman\u2019s staging of A Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream<\/a> in May. Details of his future performances can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dean Murphy in The Queen of Spades (Photo: Marcus Lieberenz) Over the past few seasons, American baritone Dean…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[18,4676,4677],"class_list":{"0":"post-4566","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-berlin","8":"tag-berlin","9":"tag-dean-murphy","10":"tag-free"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}