Download Mr - Christopher Burchett

Mr. Burchett’s rich baritone voice and impeccable stagecraft have earned him a place on the stages of opera
companies throughout the United States including New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Palm Beach Opera,
Opera Orchestra of New York, Opera Omaha, Eugene Opera, Indianapolis Opera, Kentucky Opera, Utah
Festival Opera, Glimmerglass and Opera Theatre of St. Louis.
The 2008-2009 season took Mr. Burchett back to Opera Omaha, opening their season with the newly
commissioned work Blizzard Voices by Paul Moravec. He then sang concerts of Elijah with the Palm Beach
Music Festival and Messiah with Princeton Pro Musica, as well as holiday concerts with the Santa Fe Desert
Chorale. This past winter, Mr. Burchett made his Eugene Opera debut as Masetto followed by the role of
Willy Wonka in a workshop of the new opera The Golden Ticket by Peter Ash. In the spring, Mr. Burchett
was heard singing Rodgers & Hammerstein concerts with Orchestra Kentucky of Bowling Green and
Murfreesboro Symphony Orchestra. This summer, he made his Ashlawn Opera Festival debut as Lancelot in
Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot.
Other highlights of Mr. Burchett’s repertoire include Belcore in L'elisir d'amore with Cedar Rapids Opera
Theatre, Masetto performed at the Estates Theater in Prague and the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Dr. Falke
in Die Fledermaus with Piedmont Opera, the Foreman in Jenufa with Glimmerglass Opera, Leuthold in
Guillaume Tell with Opera Orchestra of New York, Bill Bobstay in H.M.S. Pinafore with Chattanooga
Symphony and Opera, Leporello in Don Giovanni with Amarillo Opera, The Four Villains in Offenbach’s Les
Contes d’Hoffmann with Indiana University Opera Theater.
A champion of new music, Mr. Burchett has been a part of several world premieres, creating the role of Orsen
in Edwin Penhorwood’s opera Too Many Sopranos with Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, M. Carré-Lamadon in
Stephen Hartke's opera The Greater Good (available on Naxos records) with Glimmerglass Opera and Justin
in Anthony Davis’ opera Wakonda’s Dream with Opera Omaha. He has also participated in the revival of
several 21st century works: the oratorio Restless Mourning by Anthony Davis, the roles of Braxton and Sherrin
in Sir Richard Rodney Bennett’s opera The Mines of Sulphur and Soldier Songs, a solo baritone cantata by up
and coming composer David Little.
Widely sought after for his concert work, Mr. Burchett has appeared with many of the country’s finest Bach
festivals including the Carmel Bach Festival, Boulder Bach Festival, Louisville Bach Society and Bethlehem
Bach Festival where he sang Bach’s B Minor Mass and was part of an Emmy winning national PBS broadcast
entitled “Make a Joyful Noise”. Other concert highlights include Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the New
Hampshire Music Festival, Vaughn Williams’ Fantasia on Christmas Carols with the New York Choral
Society at Carnegie Hall as well as Britten’s War Requiem and Vaughan Williams’ Sea Symphony with the
Choral Arts Society of Louisville and Louisville Orchestra
During the 2009-2010 season, Mr. Burchett will return to Eugene Opera as Count Almaviva in Le Nozze di
Figaro, sing the title role in Boston Youth Symphony’s production of Don Giovanni followed by a Rodgers
and Hart concert for Orchestra Kentucky, Don Giovanni and Tommy in Brigadoon with Ashlawn Opera
Festival and Elijah with the Canterbury Choral Society and Oklahoma City Philharmonic. In the spring of
2011, he will return to his alma mater, Indiana University Opera Theater, to sing the role of Vincent Van
Gough in the world premiere of the opera Vincent by composer Bernard Rand and librettist J.D. McClatchy.