Bass-baritone Pete Thanapat is the second prize winner at the Debut Competition 2024 in Germany. Upcoming performances this season include the role of Roucher in André Chénier at the Opéra de Lyon and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées Paris. He will also perform the bass solo in Verdi's Requiem alongside renowned soprano Krassimira Stoyanova at the March Music Days Ruse, in Bulgaria and will return to the Bregenz Festival to portray Marchese d'Obigny in La Traviata on the Seebühne in 2026.
Pete was a finalist at the 6th Eva Marton Competition in 2024. In 2022, he participated in the prestigious Young Singers Project at the Salzburg Festival. The same year, he was a finalist of both Neue Stimmen and the 40th International Belvedere Singing Competition, and secured second prize at the 26th International Ferruccio Tagliavini Competition. He notably won the Perry Nelson Prize at the 11th International Hilde Zadek Singing Competition in 2019. He was also a participant in SWR Junge Opernstars 2023 in Kaiserslautern and Landau.
Pete was a member of the Lyon Opera Studio during the 2022-2024 seasons and performed the roles of Biterolf in Wagner's Tannhäuser, Grand Prêtre in Hérodiade (He also covered the role of Phanuel), Tsar Ivan, Inquisitor, Crouper, and Señor in Candide, as well as the roles of Antonio in Le Nozze di Figaro, the One-Armed Man in Die Frau ohne Schatten, Larkens in La fanciulla del West, and Don Pedro in Béatrice et Bénédict. At the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, he appeared as Quinault in Adriana Lecouvreur.
Performances before 2022 include Marco in Gianni Schicchi at the Bregenz Festival and Woodcutter in Die Königskinder at the Tyrolean Festival. During his time in Salzburg with the Young Singers Project, he portrayed the Devil in the new production of The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs by Stefan Hanke. He made his international debut in 2014 as Maestro Spinelloccio and Nataio in Gianni Schicchi at the Summer Opera at Bergenhus Fortress in Norway and has regularly performed as a soloist at the Salzburg Cathedral.
Pete completed his master's degree at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna under the guidance of KS Krassimira Stoyanova and KS Angelika Kirchschlager for Lieder. He graduated with a bachelor's degree from the University Mozarteum Salzburg in the singing class of Prof. Mario Diaz and the Lieder class of Prof. Pauliina Tukiainen. Born in Bangkok, Thailand, in 1995, Pete speaks Thai, English, German, and has basic knowledge of Italian, currently studying French and Russian.