In 1985 Finley appeared in the Royal College of Music production of
Le Testament de la tante Caroline as the notary Maître Corbeau, and in
La vera costanza the following year, where his "rounded bass and an aptness for conventionalised comedy made a vivid character of the rich fop, Villotto". Finley is particularly renowned for his interpretations of
Mozart roles such as
Guglielmo,
Papageno,
Figaro,
Count Almaviva and
Don Giovanni. He made his
Salzburger Festspiele debut in 1991 and returned on several occasions since then, including as Count Almaviva in 2007 and 2009, Don Giovanni in 2011 and Don Alfonso in
Così fan tutte in 2013. In 2017 he received critical acclaim for his portrayal of
Aribert Reimann’s
Lear. He made his
New York City debut at the
Metropolitan Opera on January 24, 1998, as Papageno in
Die Zauberflöte. He has subsequently performed the title role of
Don Giovanni, Marcello in
Puccini's
La bohème, and the title role of
Rossini's
Guillaume Tell at the Metropolitan Opera. In addition to his success with Mozart, Finley has been active in contemporary opera. He has created a number of roles including
J. Robert Oppenheimer in the world premiere of
John Adams' opera
Doctor Atomic at the
San Francisco Opera on October 1, 2005. This opera had its
Metropolitan Opera premiere with Finley in the Oppenheimer role on October 13, 2008, and was broadcast as part of the Met's Live in HD broadcast series on November 8, 2008. Other roles he has originated include Harry Heegan in
The Silver Tassie by
Mark-Anthony Turnage at the
English National Opera and the title role in
Fantastic Mr. Fox by
Tobias Picker at the
Los Angeles Opera. Expanding his repertoire, Finley sang the title role of
Eugene Onegin at the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in March 2008. This was the second time he has sung a Tchaikovsky role for the Royal Opera; the first being
Prince Yeletsky, from
Pique Dame. In 2011 he sang Hans Sachs in the
Glyndebourne Opera production of
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg to much critical acclaim. Finley debuted at
Wiener Staatsoper as Count Almaviva in
Le nozze di Figaro on June 3, 2012. He returned for lead roles in the premieres of two important new productions: the Forester in
Janáček’s
Příhody lišky Bystroušky in June 2014, and Amfortas in
Wagner’s
Parsifal in March 2017. Finley has been critically praised in both opera and concert. After a recital at
Carnegie Hall in March 2007, he was praised by
New York Times critic
Bernard Holland as having a "bass-baritone of easy luxury" and that his "sensibilities begin with the pre-eminence of words." His portrayal of Schumann's
Dichterliebe at the Wigmore Hall in 2006 was also highly praised. Finley appears on a number of recordings, including several solo albums on the
Hyperion label, including Bach cantatas, songs by Barber, Ives and Ravel, Schubert's Schwanengesang and Winterreise, Brahms's Vier ernste Gesänge, and Schumann's Dichterliebe and Liederkreis. In October 2014 he opened the
Canadian Opera Company 2014-2015 season as the title character in
Falstaff. It was his return to the company after an absence of 20 years and his first appearance as Verdi's Fat Knight. On May 14, 2015, he performed the world premiere of
True Fire by the Finnish composer
Kaija Saariaho, which the composer dedicated to Finley. Finley was appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the
2017 Birthday Honours (UK) for services to opera. Finley portrayed the knight Gurnemanz in an Eastertide production of Wagner's Parsifal at Wiener Staatsoper in April 2017. On August 20, 2019, Finley performed the baritone solo in the BBC Proms performance of William Walton's "Belshazzar's Feast". In September 2020, during the
COVID-19 pandemic, Finley played the titular role in ''
Bluebeard's Castle'' in a
London Symphony Orchestra performance which was made available online. == Selected discography ==