he has appeared from the Metropolitan Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago in the US to the Royal Opera Covent Garden, La Scala, Vienna State Opera, Paris Opera, and Bavarian State Opera in Europe.
His many roles include Wotan in Wagner's Ring cycle, the title role in The Flying Dutchman, Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde, Leporello in Don Giovanni,
Orestes in Elektra, Balstrode in Peter Grimes, and the title role in Wozzeck.
Mr. Held has also appeared at the Salzburg, Tanglewood, and Saito Kinen festivals, as well as the BBC Proms.
He opened the Washington National Opera’s season as Scarpia in Tosca. he also made his debut at the Canadian Opera Company in A Florentine Tragedy and Gianni Schicchi, he opened the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s calendar in a new production of Elektra,
sings Hans Sachs in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Tokyo Opera Nomori Festival,
and returns to the Canadian Opera in Tristan und Isolde and Salome.
Alan Held recently appeared as the Four Villains in the Metropolitan Opera’s HD broadcast of Les Contes d’Hoffman,
and he appears as Donner in that company’s DVD of Das Rheingold.
He performs the title role in Cardillac in the DVD of the Paris Opera production,
and he recorded the role of Don Pizarro in Fidelio with Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic.
Mr. Held also gives regular master classes at Yale University.