Canadian bass Phillip Ens made his operatic debut in 1985 with the Manitoba Opera, followed by appearances with the opera companies of Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, National Arts Center in Ottawa, and Montreal in such roles as Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Sparafucile (Rigoletto), Don Basilio (Il Barbiere di Siviglia), and Frere Laurence (Romeo et Juliette).

He made his Canadian Opera Company debut in 1991 as Don Fernando (Fidelio), followed by his debut in America with the Philadelphia Orchestra as Colline (La Boheme), appearances as Sparafucile with the opera companies of Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and Denver, and Ramfis (Aida) in Austin.

From 1993-1997, Mr. Ens was principal bass with the Staatsoper Stuttgart, performing numerous roles including Sparafucile, the Eremit (Die Freischütz), Sarastro, Banquo (Macbeth), Pimen (Boris Godunov), and Fafner and Hunding in their new production of the Ring Cycle.

Other European credits during this period include the role of Ramfis in Robert Wilson’s new production of Aida with La Monnaie in Brussels, where he also performed the role of Gremin (Eugene Onegin), Sarastro with Staatsoper Hamburg and Staatsoper Berlin, Colline at the Bayerische Staatsoper, Padre Guardiano (La Forza del Destino) for the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Commendatore (Don Giovanni) at the English National Opera, Claggart (Billy Budd) for the Welsh National Opera, and Hunding (Die Walkuere) with Teatro Real de Madrid.

Mr. Ens has sung with major orchestras and festivals throughout the world including appearances with the BBC orchestra, the Proms series in London, the Edinburgh and Salzburg Festivals, and the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome.

Since 2000, Phillip has made a number of important operatic debuts, including his Metropolitan Opera debut as Hunding under the direction of James Levine, under whose direction he returned for two new productions at the Met as Commendatore and Wurm (Luisa Miller), as well as Tiresias (Oedipus Rex) under the baton of Gergiev.

He also debuted at the Paris Bastille as Commendatore, in new productions at the Royal Opera House of Covent Garden as Wurm and Fafner (Rheingold), Chicago Lyric as Hunding, and the San Francisco Opera as Basilio and Claggart.

Most recently he sang Fafner in the Royal Opera’s new production of Siegfried conducted by Antonio Pappano, Claggart with the Bayerische Staatsoper.and Wurm in Madrid.

Upcoming performances include a return to Metropolitan Opera as Wurm, King Hrothgar in Los Angeles Opera’s world premiere of Grendel, Fafner (Rheingold and Siegfried) with the Canadian Opera, a return to San Francisco as Basilio, and Claggart in his Houston Grand Opera debut.