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Counter-tenor Tim Mead is praised for his 'alluring' and 'consistently excellent' interpretations of a wide range of repertoire (New York Times). With his 'rich, mellifluous sound' (Guardian), Mead is recognised as one of the finest countertenors performing today.
Highlights of the 2025/26 season include Mead’s house debut at Teatro Massimo di Palermo in the title role of Scarlatti's Mitridate Eupatore. On the concert platform, Mead will perform Joad in Handel's Athalia on tour with the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra, returns to The Cleveland Orchestra for Handel's Messiah and with Orfeo Orchestra, Bach's Weinachts Oratorium on tour with Netherlands Chamber Choir, Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Klaus Mäkelä and perform in a Bach project with Bayerische Rundfunk, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, alongside a recital with Fundación Juan March. Mead also continues his long standing relationships with Bach Collegium Japan, Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien, RIAS Kammerchor, Concert de la Loge, and Gabrieli Consort.
Mead is lauded for his interpretations of the great Handel counter-tenor roles, with recent highlights including Rodelinda for Garsington Opera, Opera de Lille and English National Opera, his house debut with Pinchgut Opera in the title role of Giulio Cesare and Bach Collegium Japan, Ottone in Agrippina for Dutch National Opera and Opera Vlaanderen, Dardano in Amadigi di Gaula for Garsington Opera, Goffredo in Rinaldo at Glyndebourne, Athamas in Semele for Opera Philadelphia, and Hamor in Jephtha at the Opéra National de Paris. Other recent Operatic highlights include Farnace in Mozart's Mitridate for Teatro Real, Ruggiero in Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso for The Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival, Oberon in Britten's A Midsummer Night’s Dream for Glyndebourne, Ulisse in Sarro’s Achille in Sciro and Endimione in Cavalli's La Calisto at the Teatro Real, Madrid, Apollo in Britten's Death in Venice at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Endimione in La Calisto for the Bayerische Staatsoper, Opera Philadelphia and Bergen National Opera, the title role in Glass's Akhnaten for Opera Vlaanderen, Boy/Angel in Benjamin's Written on Skin at the Bolshoi, and Arsamene in Cavalli's Xerse with Le Concert d’Astrée at Opéra de Lille, Theater an der Wien, and Théâtre de Caen.
On the concert platform, highlights include Colasanti Time’s Cruel Hand with The Cleveland Orchestra Handel's Messiah with the RIAS Kammerchor, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Wrocław Baroque Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Gabrieli Consort, Handel & Haydn Society, Academy of Ancient Music, Le Concert d’Astrée and the Deutsches SymfonieOrchester Berlin conducted by Robin Ticciati; Bach's Mass in B minor with the OAE, English Concert and Les Arts Florissants; Didymus in Handel's Theodora with the Akademie fur Alte Musik, English Concert and Arcangelo on tour to the Barbican, De Singel and Wiener Konzerthaus; Bach's St Matthew Passion with Collegium Vocale Gent in a European tour, the London Handel Festival and De Nederlandse Bachvereniging; and elsewhere, Pergolesi's Stabat Mater with The Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Arcangelo and at the BBC Proms, Bach's cantatas with La Folia Barockorchester and the Gabrieli Consort, Written on Skin with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France conducted by George Benjamin, Hamor in Jephtha with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the BBC Proms, a European recital tour with Emmanuelle Haim and Le Concert d’Astrée, Bach's St John Passion with Jonathan Cohen and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, an appearance with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl and Walt Disney Concert Hall, a tour of Asia with Harry Bicket and the English Concert, Athamas in Semele with the CBSO and the Handel and Haydn Society, the world premiere of Theo's Loevendie Spinoza at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, Bach's Magnificat with Le Concert d’Astrée, Handel's Solomon with Akademie für Alte Musik, Handel's Judas Maccabaeus with the OAE, Handel's Joseph and his Brethren at the International Händel Festspiele Göttingen and a recital with Voice and Lute at Wigmore Hall.
Mead recently released his debut solo album Sacroprofano (Alpha Classics, 2023) to great critical claim, adding to an already substantial discography with other releases including Beauteous Softness with La Nuova Musica (Pentatone, 2023) and Purcell Songs and Dances with Les Musiciens de Saint-Julien (Alpha, 2018).
Mead read Music as a choral scholar at King’s College, Cambridge, before continuing his vocal studies at the Royal College of Music.