Eric Owens, bass-baritone

Bass-baritone Eric Owens has a unique reputation as an esteemed interpreter of classic works and a champion of new music. Equally at home in orchestral, recital, and operatic repertoire, Mr. Owens brings his powerful poise, expansive voice, and instinctive acting faculties to stages around the world.

In the 2020-2021 season, Mr. Owens performs Sarastro in The Magic Flute and Ferrando in Il trovatore at the Glimmerglass Festival, while serving as Artist in Residence for the festival’s Young Artist Program. He also sings in a pop-up concert in New York City alongside other soloists and members of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus and Orchestra, led by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Previously scheduled engagements include returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Vodnik in Rusalka, San Francisco Opera as Rocco in Fidelio, Los Angeles Opera as Ramfis in Aida, and Washington National Opera as Don Fernando in Fidelio, as well as performances of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

In the 2019-2020 season, Mr. Owens starred as Porgy in James Robinson’s production of Porgy and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera, the recording of which won the 2021 Grammy for Best Opera Recording. He had also been scheduled to return to Lyric Opera of Chicago as Wotan in Sir David Pountney’s production of the complete Ring Cycle, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, and to sing King Marke in Tristan und Isolde at Santa Fe Opera, conducted by James Gaffigan. In concert, he performed Schubert’s Winterreise with pianist Jeremy Denk at the Los Alamos Concert Association, and had been scheduled to sing Jochanaan in Salome with the Malmö Symfoniorkester.

In the 2018-2019 season, Mr. Owens returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago to make his role debut as the Wanderer in David Pountney’s new production of Siegfried. He also sang Porgy in James Robinson’s new production of Porgy and Bess at Dutch National Opera and made his role debut as Hagen in Götterdämmerung at the Metropolitan Opera, conducted by Philippe Jordan. Concert appearances included the world premiere of David Lang’s prisoner of the state with the New York Philharmonic, conducted by Jaap van Zweden, the King in Aïda with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Riccardo Muti, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem with the Minnesota Orchestra, and Mozart’s Requiem with Music of the Baroque. Mr. Owens also embarked on multi-city recital tour alongside tenor Lawrence Brownlee.

Mr. Owens has created an uncommon niche for himself in the ever-growing body of contemporary opera works through his determined tackling of new and challenging roles. He received great critical acclaim for portraying the title role in the world premiere of Elliot Goldenthal’s Grendel at Los Angeles Opera, and again at the Lincoln Center Festival, in a production directed and designed by Julie Taymor. Mr. Owens also enjoys a close association with John Adams, for whom he performed the role of General Leslie Groves in the world premiere of Doctor Atomic at San Francisco Opera, and of the Storyteller in the world premiere of A Flowering Tree at Peter Sellars’s New Crowned Hope Festival in Vienna and later with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Doctor Atomic was later recorded and received the 2012 Grammy for Best Opera Recording. Mr. Owens made his Boston Symphony Orchestra debut under the baton of David Robertson in Adams’ El Niño.

Mr. Owens’s career operatic highlights include performances at the Metropolitan Opera as Alberich in the Ring cycle, directed by Robert Lepage, Orest in Patrice Chereau’s production of Elektra, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, Vodnik in Rusalka, conducted by Sir Mark Elder, Voice of Neptune in Idomeneo, conducted by James Levine, and Jaufré Rudel in Robert Lepage’s production of L’Amour de loin, conducted by Susanna Malkki; at Lyric Opera of Chicago as Wotan in David Pountney’s new production of Die Walküre, as well as Vodnik and Porgy; at Washington National Opera as the title role of Der Fliegende Höllander, Filippo II in Don Carlo, and Stephen Kumalo in Weill’s Lost in the Stars; at Houston Grand Opera as Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia as well as Ramfis; at Santa Fe Opera as La Roche in Capriccio; at the Glimmerglass Festival as the title role in Macbeth and Collatinus in a highly-acclaimed Christopher Alden production of Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia; at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, as Oroveso in Norma; at Canadian Opera Company as the title role in Handel’s Hercules; and at Opéra national de Paris as Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte. A former member of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Mr. Owens has sung Sarastro, Méphistophélès in Faust, Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette, and Aristotle Onassis in the world premiere of Michael Daugherty’s Jackie O (available on the Argo label) with that company. Additionally, he is featured on the Nonesuch Records release of A Flowering Tree. Mr. Owens is an avid concert singer, and collaborates closely with conductors such as Alan Gilbert, Riccardo Muti, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Sir Simon Rattle, Donald Runnicles, and Franz Welser-Möst.

He has been recognized with multiple honors, including the Musical America’s 2017 “Vocalist of the Year” award, 2003 Marian Anderson Award, a 1999 ARIA award, and second prize in the Plácido Domingo Operalia Competition, as well as at the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and Luciano Pavarotti International Voice Competition. In 2017, the Glimmerglass Festival appointed him as its Artistic Advisor.

A native of Philadelphia, Mr. Owens began his musical training as a pianist at the age of six, followed by formal oboe study at age eleven under Lloyd Shorter of the Delaware Symphony and Louis Rosenblatt of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He studied voice while an undergraduate at Temple University, and then as a graduate student at the Curtis Institute of Music. He currently studies with Armen Boyajian. He serves on the Board of Trustees of both the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and Astral Artistic Services. Starting in 2019, Mr. Owens became the co-chair of the Curtis Institute’s opera department.