Bass-baritone Mitchell Sandler studied music at the University of California at Berkeley, and did a secondary study of baroque music performance-practice at the Royal Conservatory in the Hague. In between he toured and recorded with the well-known men’s ensemble, Chanticleer.

Since 1992 he has performed in several productions at the Netherlands Opera in small ensembles, such as being one of the Flemish deputies in Verdi’s Don Carlo. He sang in Japan at the world premiere of Tea by Chinese composer Tan Dun, and in the reprises of the opera in the Netherlands and in Japan. In 2006 composer Michel van der Aa wrote a role especially for him in his new opera After Life, a work commissioned by the Netherlands Opera in co-operation with the Holland Festival. The opera was premiered in June, 2006.

Recent recordings include the role of Polifemo in Handel’s Aci, Galatea e Polifemo with Contrasto Armonico conducted by Marco Vitale, and Dolci Sospiri, songs and duets of Falconieri with ensemble La Primavera.

Mitchell Sandler is a member of Ton Koopman’s ‘Amsterdam Baroque Choir’ and the Netherlands Radio Choir. He composes and arranges, including vocal works with piano for SongCircle. He teaches summer music courses in the Czech Republic.

His interests range beyond music alone; he is working on a gastronomic walking guide to the Benelux: The Boots & Bowtie Guide, together with his wife, Anne Hodgkinson.