Sean Panikkar

Sean Panikkar, an American tenor of Sri Lankan origin, is a graduate of the Adler Fellowship of the San Francisco Opera and the University of Michigan. Important successes in recent years include. his debut at the Salzburg Festival as Dionysus in a new production of Henze's Bassarids, his Los Angeles Opera debut as Gandhi in a new production of Philip Glass' Satyagraha, Jack/Tobby Higgins (Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny) and Zaide at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, Don José (Carmen) at ENO, La bohème at London's Royal Albert Hall, at Cincinnati Opera, Pittsburgh Opera and Michigan Opera, Jake Heggie's Moby Dick at Pittsburgh Opera, Narraboth (Salome) in Washington and at the Saito Kinen Festival, Menotti's The Last Savage at Santa Fe Opera, Tamino (Die Zauberflöte) at Pittsburgh Opera and at the Glimmerglass Festival, Nadir (Les Pêcheurs de perles) in Kansas City, at Fort Worth Opera, Pittsburgh Opera and Opera Colorado. Numerous engagements with New York's Metropolitan Opera include performances as Molqi (Death of Klinghoffer), Rodolphe (Guillaume Tell), Tybalt (Roméo et Juliette), Manon Lescaut, Arturo (Lucia di Lammermoor) and Ariadne auf Naxos. Recent highlights include Luigi Nono's Intolleranza 1960 at the 2021 Salzburg Festival, Philip Glass' Satyagraha at ENO, the title role in Oedipus Rex in San Francisco.

A highly regarded interpreter of contemporary music, Sean Panikkar has sung the role of Adam in Giorgio Battistelli's CO₂ at La Scala, Milan; Bassariden at Komische Oper Berlin; Wendell Smith in Daniel Sonenberg's The Summer King in a co-production of Pittsburgh Opera and Michigan Opera; Agent Henry Rathbone in David T. Little's JFK at Fort Worth Opera and in Montréal; and the title role in Jack Perla's Shalimar the Clown in Saint Louis.
Sean Panikkar is a member of the trio FORTE, a cross-cultural crossover association of opera tenors. He is also a welcome guest on the concert platform worldwide.