Mitchell Sandler

Bass-baritone Mitchell Sandler studied music at the University of California at Berkeley, and did a secondary study of baroque music performance-practice at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague. In between he toured and recorded with the well- known men’s ensemble, Chanticleer. 

Since coming to live in Holland in 1989 he has appeared as a soloist with many of leading practitioners of early music in Europe: Frans Bruggen, Gustav Leonhardt, Phillipe Herreweghe, Hermann Max and Wieland Kuijken.

In 1992 he was asked to join a new ensemble of young soloists at the Netherlands Opera, formed to take part in the premiere of Alfred Schnittke’s  ‘Life with an Idiot’. Since that time he has performed in several productions at the Netherlands Opera, including ‘Die glückliche Hand’ by Schönberg, Monteverdi’s ‘L’Orfeo’, and the world premiere of ‘Tea’ by Chinese composer Tan Dun.  

In 2006 composer Michel van der Aa wrote a role especially for him in his new opera ‘After Life’, a work commissioned by the Netherlands Opera in co-operation with the Holland Festival. The opera was premiered in June, 2006 in the new ‘Muziekgebouw aan het Ij’ in Amsterdam.