Thomas Hampson is a baritone opera singer from Washington. As the protégé of the late Leonard Bernstein, Hampson recorded Gustav Mahler's Kindertotenlieder and Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen with him for Deutsche Grammophon, a recording that is widely appreciated. After this and up to the time of the conductor's death, Thomas Hampson contributed to many major Bernstein recordings.
Today considered one of America's leading baritones, Hampson's operatic repertoire spans a wide range of roles: the title roles in Mozart's Don Giovanni, Rossini's Guillaume Tell, Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet, and Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin; Figaro in Rossini's Barber of Seville, Germont in Verdi's La traviata and more recently also Amfortas in Wagner's Parsifal. In 2003 his recording of Wagner's Tannhäuser received the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.