Quirijn de Lang — Baritone
Quirijn de Lang has built a reputation as one of today’s most compelling singing actors, known for his chameleon-like ability to fully embody his roles across opera, operetta, and musical theatre. With a voice described as rich and expressive, and a stage presence that combines intelligence with natural charisma, he thrives on variety—moving with ease from the brooding introspection of Ambroise Thomas’ Hamlet to the swaggering wit of Fred/Petruchio in Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate.
That wide range has led him to stages across Europe and the UK in more than 75 roles. Recent seasons have seen him as Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de perles in both Britain and Belgium, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, and Theseus in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. His gift for contemporary work is equally evident: he has sung Oppenheimer in John Adams’ Doctor Atomic, Almaviva in David Pountney’s Figaro Gets a Divorce in Magdeburg, and took part in the world premiere of Manfred Trojahn’s Eurydice – Die Liebenden Blind at Dutch National Opera.
Quirijn is just as much at home on the musical theatre stage, where his finely honed acting and natural warmth come to the fore. He has starred as Fredrik Egerman in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, Randy Curtis in Weill’s Lady in the Dark, and Harry Easter in Street Scene. His Fred/Petruchio in Kiss Me, Kate at Opera North became something of a signature, celebrated for its energy, humour, and vocal finesse, and was later reprised at the London Coliseum.
Concert work adds another dimension, with appearances in Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and Rossini’s Stabat Mater at Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw.
Yet another string to his bow is curating and performing new song cycles comprised of songs from different composers into a storied theme such as De Stille Stad (Silent City) about the Covid pandemic, or Away Home for the Dutch Centre in London, about the life of an expat.
Much of his career has developed in the UK, where he made his debut at Garsington Opera as Harlekin in 2007 and has since become a familiar face with Opera North, Grange Park, Garsington, and Welsh National Opera.
Upcoming highlights include Giorgio Germont in La Traviata in Belgium, recital appearances in London, and the lead role of Samuel Cooper in Kurt Weill’s Love Life with Opera North—a landmark project that will also result in the first full-scale recording of this rarely heard musical, in collaboration with the Kurt Weill Foundation.
Born in the Netherlands with a mixed Dutch-Indisch background, and spending part of his childhood in Japan, Quirijn first studied biology before turning to music. After training in Milan, he completed his studies at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, making his professional debut as Papageno with the Nederlandse Reisopera while still a student. Since then he has appeared at major houses including Deutsche Oper Berlin, La Monnaie, English National Opera, and Dutch National Opera, steadily building an eclectic career that defies easy categorisation.
Even away from the stage, his creativity finds outlets. During the pandemic, he reinvented himself as a television presenter and journalist in his hometown of Haarlem, producing a series about its two cathedrals and developing a reputation as an engaging communicator.
Whether in Mozart, Weill, Verdi, or Adams, what unites Quirijn’s work is a passion for storytelling. His performances marry vocal elegance with dramatic truth, leaving audiences convinced they have witnessed something both immediate and deeply human.
