Kelly Anderson

Baritone

Leading baritone Kelly Anderson has appeared with opera companies across the United States and abroad, most notably with Houston Grand Opera, New York City Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Washington National Opera, Arizona Opera, Baltimore Opera, Deutsche Opera Berlin, Opera Leipzig, Boston Lyric Opera, Portland Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Opera North, Florida Grand Opera, Florentine Opera of Milwaukee, Hawaii Opera, Opera Colorado, Central City Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera. Known for having a strong and compelling presence on stage, he has been hailed by critics for possessing a “rich voice and very easy natural phrasing,” (Washington Times) as well as having “a football star’s sex appeal.” (Denver Post).

Mr. Anderson returns to Hawaii Opera Theater in 2011 for the role of Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor. He begins the 2009– 20010 season at Chautauqua Opera where he will sing the role of John Sorel in a new production of Menotti’s The Consul. He also sings the role of Ray Cohn in a concert performance of Angels in America with the BBC Symphony at the Barbican Centre in London, which marks the UK premiere of the work.

In the previous two seasons, Mr. Anderson performed the role of Lescuat in Manon Lescaut and Escamillo in Carmen with Hawaii Opera Theater. He made his debut with the Tucson Symphony in the World Premiere of Daniel Asia’s Symphony No. 5 where his “resonating baritone was among the highlights of the performance.” (The Arizona Daily Star) On the opera stage, he joined the Fort Worth Opera as Roy Cohn in the North American premiere of Angels in America, the Hawaii Opera Theater as both Lescaut in Manon Lescaut and Escamillo in Carmen, the Palm Beach Opera as Don Pizzaro in Fidelio, and the Lake George Opera Festival as Germont in La Traviata where he was praised for his “booming, fatherly voice and his dramatic performance [which] had just the right balance between firm determination and kindness.” (The Daily Gazette)

Recent career highlights include the roles of Rambaldo in La Rondine with the Dallas Opera, Omar in L’Assedio di Corinto and Angelotti in Tosca with the Baltimore Opera, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with the Naples Opera, Germont in La Traviata for his debut with the Fort Worth Opera, and Jochanaan in Salome, Escamillo in Carmen and in the title role of Le Nozze di Figaro all with New York City Opera.
He sang Michele in Il Tabarro with Arizona Opera, Marcello in La Boheme with the Florentine Opera, and the title role in Don Giovanni with Florida Grand Opera, Hawaii Opera, Opera Colorado, and the Washington National Opera. He sang Ping in Turandot and Basil in the United States premiere of The Picture of Dorian Gray both with the Florentine Opera, Achila in Julius Caesar with the Florida Grand Opera and Portland Opera, Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di Figaro with the Florida Grand Opera and the Opera Festival of New Jersey, and Escamillo in Carmen with Oper Leipzig.

A sought after soloist on the concert stage, Mr. Anderson has performed with the symphonies of Chicago, Boston, Houston, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Evansville, West Virginia, Florida, Phoenix, Kentucky, Indiana
and Berlin, among others. Highlights include performances of Don Pizzaro in Fidelio and a program of Beethoven with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Iago in Otello and Scarpia in Tosca both with the Kentucky Symphony, and Escamillo in concert performances of Carmen with the Imperial Symphony in Florida.

Mr. Anderson’s recordings include Hans Foltz and the Night Watchman in Die Meistersinger with Sir Georg Solit and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (London/Decca) and the role of Golfredo in Bellini’s Il Pirata (Berlin Classics).

He is a 1994 winner of the George London Award, the winner of the 1993 McAllister Opera Singer Competition, and one of the winners of the Belvedere Competition in Vienna. He received the 1993 Robert Jacobson Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, the 1993 Catherine Filene Shouse Study Grant from Wolf Trap Opera, and the 1993 Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation. A native of Chesterton, Indiana, he received his Bachelor of Music in Voice from the New England Conservatory and a Master of Music in Voice from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He began his career as a young artist with the Deutsche Opera Berlin and was a member of the Houston Opera Studio of the Houston Grand Opera.