Meet Our Soloist: Kevin Short, Bass-Baritone
Versatile bass-baritone Kevin Short is thrilling audiences around the globe in a wide range of repertoire ranging from Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea, to Verdi's Attila and Don Carlos, and Bizet's Carmen.
In north america Kevin has performed multiple roles with the Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Washington Opera, Seattle Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Canadian Opera Company, Vancouver Opera, Edmonton Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Sarasota Opera, Opera Pacific, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Indianapolis Opera, Utan Symphony, Opera de las Americas, Opera Memphis, Berkshire Opera Company, Nashville Opera, Opera Omaha, Opera Birmingham, New Jersy Opera Festival, Kentucky Opera and the Opera Theatre of St. Louis to name but a sample of the many companies where he's performed.
Making Switzerland his home now for a number of years, Kevin is also coming to the attention of european theaters and has performed at Paris' Opera Comique, Theatre Caen, Grand Theatre du Luxembourg Oper der Stadt Koln, Staatstheater Stuttgart, Theater Aachen, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Theater Basel, Theater Bern, Theater St. Gallen, and Teatro Nacional di São Carlos in such roles as Attila, Philippe in Don Carlos, Leporello in Don Giovanni, Mephistopheles in Faust, Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Escamillo in Carmen, Nick Shadow in The Rake's Progress, Figaro and Il Conte in Le Nozze di Figaro, and Porgy in Porgy and Bess.
Important festivals with which Kevin has performed include the Bregenzer Festspiele, Baden - Baden, Festival d'Aix-en-Provence, Montpellier, France; Sarasota Opera Winter Festival, the Saito Kinen festival in Matsumoto, Japan, and festivals in Beijing, China; Hanoi, Vietnam; and Granada, Valencia, and Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Kevin also enjoys an active concert schedule and has worked with important orchestras in the U.S. and around the world including the Boston Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Cleveland Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Detroit Symphony, the New York Pops Orchestra, and the Opera Orchestra of New York. In europe and asia, he has performed with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Swiss and Italian RAI Orchestra, Radio France Orchestra, Parma Reggio Emilia Orchestra, New Japan Philharmonic, Hiroshima Symphony, and the Winter Olympics Festival Orchestra for the opening ceremonies of the winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan. His vast concert repertoire include works by Bach and Beethoven and continue to the late 20th century, including Verdi's Requiem and Mendelssohn's Elijah.
Kevin received his training at Morgan State University, B.S., the Curtis Institute of Music, M.M., and the Juilliard School of Music Opera Center. While attending these institutions he was a prize winner in numerous competitions, but a few highlights include the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, the International Competition for Verdian Voices, the Rosa Ponselle International Vocal Competition, the Bruce Yarnell Competition for Basses and Baritones, the Opera America Competition, the Leiderkranz Competition, and received awards and grants from the Sullivan Foundation, the Shoshana Foundation, and Opera Index.