Craig Verm

Baritone

Craig Verm is rapidly gaining recognition for his “resonant, expressive baritone voice” (Denver Post) and riveting dramatic portrayals. In the 2010-11 season and beyond, he sings his first performances of Ramiro in L’heure espagnole with the Nationale Reisopera in the Netherlands and the Miller in Montsalvatge’s El gato con botas with Gotham Chamber Opera.  He also returns to both Florentine Opera for Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas and Adonis in Blow’s Venus and Adonis and Pittsburgh Opera for Ping in Turandot and, on the concert stage, sings Gounod’s Messe Solennelle de Sainte Cécile with Les Escales Musicales d’Evian.  Future seasons include his first performances of the title role of Billy Budd and Escamillo in Carmen at the Teatro Municipal de Santiago as well as returns to Pittsburgh Opera for Zurga in Les pêcheur de perles and Austin Lyric Opera for Ping in Turandot.

Last season, he sang his first performances of Marcello in La bohème with Austin Lyric Opera and made a return guest appearance as Junius in The Rape of Lucretia with the Pittsburgh Opera Center before returning to Santa Fe Opera in the summer for Hermann in Les contes d’Hofmann, Astolfo in the world premiere of Lewis Spratlan’s Life is a Dream, and the Commissioner in Madama Butterfly.  He also joined the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra for his first performances of Orff’s Carmina Burana.

Mr. Verm enjoys a strong relationship with Pittsburgh Opera, where he has sung the lead baritone role of Tom Joad in Gordon’s The Grapes of Wrath, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette, the Novice’s Friend in Billy Budd, Angelotti in Tosca as well as Guglielmo in student performances of Così fan tutte.  Other recent performances include Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with Florentine Opera, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at Lyrique-en-Mer/Festival de Belle-Île in France, Joseph Pitt in Peter Eötvös’ Angels in America with Fort Worth Opera, both the Count in Le nozze di Figaro and Falke in Die Fledermaus with the Opera Theatre of Pittsburgh, and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte and the Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen with Aspen Opera Theater where his performances also included Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer with the Aspen Contemporary Ensemble.

Equally adept within the realm of oratorio, his other concert appearances encompass performances of Vaughan Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols with the Pittsburgh Symphony; Vaughan Williams’ Five Mystical Songs with the Asheville Symphony Orchestra; Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the Boston Youth Symphony; Bach’s Mass in B minor at Portugal’s Aviero Music Festival; as well as Faure’s Requiem with the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony, and Schubert’s Mass in G and Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzer, and Rutter’s Mass of the Children with the Pittsburgh Concert Chorale.  He has also sung Haydn’s Creation with the Robert Page Festival Singers at the Virginia Arts Festival as well as on tour in Vienna and Budapest as well as performances of Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem in Cincinnati and Handel’s Messiah in Houston.

He received his Master of Music from the University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music where his performances included title role in Carlisle Floyd’s Markheim.  He was graduated cum laude from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.  He was also a 2006 national semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and is also a former member of the young artist programs of Santa Fe Opera and Cincinnati Opera.