Early leading roles included that of Hilarion in the Gilbert and Sullivan opera Princess Ida with the London Symphony Orchestra and the Ambrosian Opera Chorus in 1982, and Ramiro in Rossini's opera La Cenerentola with the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1983.
Amongst many Mozartian rôles, as well as baroque and romantic, his portrayal of Tamino, with which he opened Mozart year in Salzburg in 1991 was described by the press as legendary.