Born in England, Milhofer studied voice as a choral scholar at
Magdalen College, Oxford. He studied further at the
Guildhall School of Music in London. He appeared as Giannetto in Rossini's
La gazza ladra with the
British Youth Opera, and was then invited to study with
Renata Scotto and
Leyla Gencer in Italy. He made his international debut at the
Teatro Regio in Parma in Rossini's
La Cenerentola. He appeared in
Il matrimonio segreto, Donizetti's
Don Pasquale, Rossini's
La scala di seta and
Il Turco in Italia, Puccini's
La Rondine. He performed in 20th-century operas such as Britten's
Billy Budd,
The Turn of the Screw and as the Madwoman in his
Curlew River, and as the Magician in Menotti's
The Consul. He took part in the world premieres of Marcello Panni's
The Banquet,
Marco Tutino's
Federico II and
Alessandro Solbiati's
Leggenda. Milhofer appeared in leading roles at opera houses in Europe, such as Belmonte in Mozart's
Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Landestheater Salzburg and in
Rennes, Ramiro in
La Cenerentola in Bern, Almaviva in Rossini's
Der Barbier von Sevilla at the
Graz Opera. He performed the role of Ferrando in
Giorgio Strehler's staging of Mozart's
Così fan tutte in Beijing and Moscow. In 2017, he appeared in a production of Monteverdi's
L’incoronazione di Poppea for the reopening of the
Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin, staged by Eva Höckmayr and conducted by
Diego Fasolis. He was Arnalta, Poppea's nurse, alongside
Anna Prohaska as Poppea and
Max Emanuel Cencic as Nerone. A critic called his performance the surprise of the evening, and noted his unity of voice and character in comic and tragic action, dressed as a parody of the butler Riff Raff in
The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In concert, Milhofer sang Britten's
Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings in Rome and Parma, Orff's
Carmina Burana at the
Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz, in Zagreb, Monte-Carlo and Rome, Rossini's
Petite messe solennelle at the
Aldeburgh Festival, and Handel's
Judas Maccabeus at
The Proms with
The King's Consort. == References ==