Did you ever consider a career outside of music?
I worked my way through college and have done a bit of everything: pizza delivery, house painting, supermarket shelf-stacker, I even worked in a bank vault. But having had a taste of the 9 to 5 life, I can safely say I wouldn’t want to do anything other than music.
What was the first record you bought?
Iron Maiden’s Number of the Beast. NWOBHM bands were huge where I grew up in the Pacific northwest. Very appealing music for discontented young men.
.. and the most recent?
Wagner’s Die Götterdamerung. This was the first opera I performed in (Seattle Opera extra chorus 1991). I was so blown away by it that I decided to take some voice lessons. Recently, I’ve begun learning the role of Hagen.
What’s been your most memorable live music experience as an audience member?
A double bill of Bon Jovi and Ratt at the Paramount Theater in Seattle, 1985. It was my first rock concert.
What’s your musical guilty pleasure?
Not guilty, but I am a big hard rock/heavy metal fan. My favourite group at the moment is the American band Alter Bridge.
How do you listen to music?
Mostly on YouTube. I like how it takes me to new things I may not have explored on my own.
If you found yourself with six months free to learn a new instrument, what would it be?
Electric guitar. I already play, but I would love to have the time to get really serious about it.
If you had to pick one work to introduce someone to the wonders of classical music, what would it be?
I have to choose what hooked me: Schumann’s Dichterliebe, live from the Salzburg Festival 1956. Dietrich Fischer Dieskau and Gerald Moore. My high-school choir teacher lent me it on cassette. That recording revealed the magic of classical music to me.
What’s the most unusual place/venue you’ve performed?
In the showroom of a car dealership in Los Angeles. It was a donor event sponsored by Audi I think.
Which non-classical musician would you like to work with?
Either Steve Vai or Yngwie Malmsteen.
What do you sing in the shower?
I don’t think any opera singer actually sings in the shower – it would be painful. I do sort of lightly hum, and lately it has been Act III of Parsifal.
It’s late, you’ve had a few beers, you’re in a Karaoke bar. What do you choose to sing?
I don’t have to imagine this, because it has happened. You lost that lovin’ feelin’ by the Righteous Brothers. It was the only thing that was low enough.
James Creswell performs in Don Giovanni (from 30 September) and The Pearl Fishers (from 19 October) for English National Opera at the London Coliseum.
