Born: Hampshire, England

The English bass, Timothy (Tim) Mirfin, graduated in Law from Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, where he was also a choral scholar. He studied singing at the Royal Academy of Music as a postgraduate scholar, followed by the National Opera Studio.

As a principal artist for Welsh National Opera from 2001 to 2003, Tim Mirfin sang Don Pedro in Beatrice and Benedict, Publio in La Clemenza di Tito, Don Ferrando in L.v. Beethoven’s Leonore, Angelotti in Tosca, The Parson in The Cunning Little Vixen and Colline in La Boheme. Roles elsewhere have included Argante in George Frideric Handel’s Rinaldo for Grange Park Opera; Figaro in Le Nozze de Figaro under Sir Colin Davis; Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Aldeburgh Festival and in 2003/4, Collatinus (Rape of Lucretia) for Opera East, Sarastro (The Magic Flute) with Scottish Opera, Selim (Il Turco in Italia) at Buxton Festival and Truffaldino in Ariadne auf Naxos for WNO.

Tim Mirfin has a wide and varied concert repertoire, ranging from Baroque oratorios to modern day premiers. Recent performances include Messiah in the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, L.v. Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in St Alban’s Cathedral, Verdi Requiem at Guildford Cathedral and Haydn’s Creation for the 2004 Three Choirs Festival at Gloucester. He made his debut at the 2001 Edinburgh Festival in Les Troyens conducted by Donald Runnicles, returning to the 2002 Festival for Enesco’s Oedipe and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solonnelle, in 2003 for G.F. Handel’s Poro under Emmanuelle Haïm and Verdi’s Macbeth under Sir Charles Mackerras, and in 2004 for the opening concert of Arthur Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bucher. He made his recital debut at the Wigmore Hall in 2001.

For ASV on CD Tim Mirfin has recorded together the Caius Choir bass solos in music by William Child and Christus in the premiere of a reconstruction of J.S. Bach’s St Mark Passion (BWV 247).

This year (2005) he performs in Wozzeck for WNO and a wide variety of roles as a principal bass for Hamburg State Opera.