Liam James Karai is a bass-baritone of Scottish, Irish, and Indian descent who is currently a member of the International Opera Studio at Staatsoper Hamburg and was previously a young artist at Salzburg Festspiele.
His engagements in 2024/25 season include Escamillo in Carmen, Cesare Angelotti in Tosca at the Polish National Opera, Schaunard in La bohème at the Tiroler Festspiele Erl, Erster Nazarener in Salome at Teatro di San Carlo, Verwalter in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at Oper Leipzig. Karai will also debut at Salzburg Festival as Horatio in Thomas’s Hamlet.
His 2023/24 season at Staatsoper Hamburg included roles such as Angelotti in Tosca, Verwalter/Wächter in Lady Macbeth ofMtsensk, Il Conte di Ceprano in Rigoletto, Alcindoro in La bohème, Hobson in Peter Grimes, Second Soldier in Salome, Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin, the Mayor in Jenůfa, as well as covering Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, covering Alidoro in La Cenerentola and covering Colline in La bohème. Outside of Hamburg he made his debut as Escamillo in Carmen in Oper Frankfurt and in a new production at Staatstheater Main.
Alongside his operatic career, Liam is a keen concert soloist and has regularly performed in opera galas, recitals and concerts around the world. Upcoming concerts include his Elbphilharmonie Großer Saal debut singing as the bass Soloist in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Kent Negano. Last season Liam performed as the bass soloist for several other works including Mozart's Requiem and Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium. He made his Elbphilharmonie Kleiner Saal debut alongside his colleagues
from the Opera Studio, performing extracts as Don Giovanni in Don Giovanni and Ralph in La jolie fille de Perth.
Liam made his international debut in July 2022 whilst on the Young Artist Programme at the Salzburg Festspiele singing Guccio in Gianni Schicchi within Il Trittico. He also performed in some concerts in Salzburg with the Mozarteum Orchestra singing extracts from Le nozze di Figaro as Figaro, Così fan tutte as Don Alfonso and Cenerentola as Alidoro.
Liam completed a postgraduate diploma on a full scholarship as well as a Master of Music degree in Performance at the Royal Northern College of Music (Manchester, England) under the tutelage of Quentin Hayes. During his time at the RNCM, Liam was awarded the Sir John Tomlinson Scholarship and the Andrew Lloyd Webber Scholarship, and was the winner of the 2021 Frederic Cox Award and the RNCM Silver Medal. He also represented the RNCM for the Joaninha Trust Award competition and for the Clonter Opera Prize, winning the first and placing runner up in the latter.
