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Christopher Magiera

Christopher Magiera
Christie Pham.

Baritone

Christopher Magiera has been noted for his “manly, vibrant baritone of uncommon distinction” (Opera Today) and was praised by The New York Times for his performance in The Death of Klinghoffer: “Among a uniformly outstanding cast, Christopher Magiera, a handsome baritone, stands out as a warm, brave and sympathetic Captain.” Mr. Magiera has been seen on stages throughout the world in leading baritone repertoire with renowned conductors such as Kent Nagano, Riccardo Frizza, Asher Fisch, Vladimir Jurowski, Emmanuel Villaume, Stephen Lord, Pier Giorgio Morandi and Frederic Chaslin.

In the 2017-18 season, Christopher Magiera reprised the role of Sharpless with Opera Naples, was soloist in Bach’s Ich habe genug - BWV 82 - with the Depaul Concert Orchestra, and joined the Lyric Opera of Chicago for their production of Gregory Spears’ Fellow Travelers. Upcoming engagements in 2018-19 include Robert in Iolanta and Gardiner in Moby Dick with Chicago Opera Theater, and Jim Crowley in a new production of Jack Perla’s An American Dream with Lyric Opera of Chicago.

In the 2016-17 season, Mr. Magiera made his role debut of Sharpless in Madame Butterfly in a return to the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, performed Marcello in La bohème with The Charleston Opera, debuted The Wound Dresser by John Adams with the McLean Orchestra, and Dvorak’s Requiem with the Berkshire Choral Festival. In the 2015-16 season Mr. Magiera debuted as soloist in Bach Cantatas with the Toledo Symphony, debuted as Joseph de Rocher in Heggie’s Dead Man Walking, and returned to the OPERA America New Works Forum as the title role in Beowulf by Hannah Lash and as The Fugitive in The Invention of Morel by Stewart Copeland. In the 2014-15 season Mr. Magiera was seen in Carmen at Vancouver Opera, Tracolin in Le Toreador at the Teatro Massimo Palermo, and with the New Works Forum of OPERA America. In 2013-14, he performed with the Dresden Semperoper as Danilo in Die Lustige Witwe and Licinius in La Vestale and joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera for Nico Muhly’s Two Boys.

Notable and acclaimed performances of Mr. Magiera’s include The Captain in John Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer with the English National Opera and Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; Valentin in Faust and Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de Perles with Santa Fe Opera; the title role in Eugene Onegin with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis; Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Conte Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, and Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with the Dresden Semperoper; and the title role in Don Giovanni with Opera Colorado.

In concert, Mr. Magiera has appeared in the title role of Eugene Onegin at the Knowlton Festival of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra with Kent Nagano, in Carmina Burana with the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra of Ankara, Turkey, in the Richard Tucker Gala at Avery Fisher Hall, in the Metropolitan Opera Summer Recital Series, and has performed numerous Bach Cantatas. Most recently he was seen in a concert celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations at the U.N. Headquarters with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro Long Yu.

Highly decorated by national and international competitions, Mr. Magiera was a National Grand Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera’s National Council Auditions, a finalist in Placido Domingo’s Operalia World Opera Competition, and a Grand Prize winner of the Sullivan Foundation. He has also received numerous other top awards including those from the Jensen Foundation, Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, Liederkranz Foundation, Bel Canto Foundation, and the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, among many others.

Mr. Magiera is a former member of the Opernstudio at the Bayerische Staatsoper, where he appeared in a variety of mainstage operas including Lucrezia Borgia, Palestrina, La bohème, Lohengrin, and was heard as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte at the historic Cuvillés-Theatre. He attended the prestigious Yale School of Music and is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory and Wake Forest University, from which he graduated with honors and distinction.

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