Born in Hong Kong, Liam James Karai is a bass-baritone of Scottish, Irish and Indian descent. In the 2023/24 season, Liam was a member of the International Opera Studio at Staatsoper Hamburg. His roles there included Angelotti in Tosca, Hobson in Peter Grimes, Figaro (Cover) and Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro, Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin, Count Ceprano in Rigoletto & Alcindoro in La bohème. He also performed as Escamillo in Carmen at Oper Frankfurt and Staatstheater Mainz, appeared in a concert version of Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet as Horatio at Salzburg Festspiele and sang in new production of Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at Oper Leipzig and Staatsoper Hamburg. In the 2024/25 season, his engagements include house debuts in Teatro San Carlo, Tiroler Festspiele Erl, Polish National Opera & returning to Staatsoper Hamburg. Liam also recently performed in the Operalia 2024 final rounds in Mumbai, India and was awarded the Encouragement Award in the final. He was also a finalist in the 41th edition of the Hans Gabor Belvedere competition and the 4th edition of the Antonina Campi singing competition where he took 2nd place.
Alongside his operatic career, Liam is a keen concert soloist and has regularly performed in concerts around the world. Recent highlights include singing as the Bass Soloist for Beethoven 9 with Singapore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Hans Graf, performing 2 opera galas with the Orquestra Simfònica de les Illes Balears conducted by Pablo Mielgo and also his Elbphilharmonie Grosser Saal debut singing as the bass soloist in Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy with the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Kent Nagano. Last season Liam performed as the Bass Soloist for several other works including Mozart Requiem and Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium. He also made his Elbphilharmonie Kleiner Saal debut alongside his colleagues from the Opera Studio, performing extracts as Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro)
and Ralph (La jolie fille de Perth), and has performed with numerous other orchestra’s including in Salzburg with the Mozarteum Orchestra singing extracts from Le nozze di Figaro as Figaro 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, the Robin Kay Memorial Prize 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. Whilst at the RNCM, Liam performed a variety of operatic roles, including Figaro in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro, Minskman in Jonathan Dove’s Flight, Badger/Priest in Janacek’s Cunning Little Vixen, and Ein Lakai and Der Haushofmeister in the Prologue to Richard Strauss’ Ariadne Auf Naxos. Outside of the RNCM, Liam covered the principal role of Parsi Rustomji in Satyagraha at English National Opera, performed as Leporello (Don Giovanni) with Allo Opera, and took on the role of Martino in British Youth Opera’s L’occasione fa il ladro at Opera Holland Park. Liam also sang in the Opera North chorus for their new production of Parsifal, as well as with the Bergen National Opera chorus for their production of Peter Grimes that won Gramophone’s ‘Opera Recording of the Year’ award and the ‘Recording of the Year’ award across all categories in 2021.
Prior to his studies at the RNCM, Liam graduated with First Class Honours from the University of Leicester where he read Banking and Finance on a vocal scholarship. He is a keen gym-goer and marathon-runner and competed to one of the highest standards of University Basketball in the United Kingdom during his undergraduate degree, acting as the president of the University of Leicester Basketball Club in his final year.
