Brian Mulligan
Hailed by The New York Times for “a voice that is rich, secure, and really, really big” and by Opera News for having “a wonderful, rich voice and a fine stage presence,” baritone Brian Mulligan frequently appears with the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies.
In the 2015-2016 season, Brian Mulligan returns to San Francisco Opera in the title role in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd – a role debut – with conductor Patrick Summers, and shortly follows as Enrico in a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor opposite Piotr Beczała, conducted by Nicola Luisotti. Also at San Francisco Opera, he takes a second role debut starring as Roderick Usher in the highly-anticipated double bill of Gordon Getty’s Usher House and Debussy’s La chute de la Maison Usher, both directed by David Pountney and conducted by Lawrence Foster. In a return to the Metropolitan Opera, Mr. Mulligan appears as Paolo in Simon Boccanegra, with Plácido Domingo in the title role and James Levine conducting, as well as a return to Opernhaus Zürich as Yeletsky in Robert Carsen’s production of Pique Dame conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek. At Minnesota Opera, Mr. Mulligan takes on the chillingly insane character of Jack Torrance in the world premiere of The Shining, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Paul Moravec and librettist Mark Campbell, and conducted by Michael Christie. He concludes the season with a company and role debut at the Glimmerglass Festival as the venerable patriarch John Proctor in Robert Ward’s Pulitzer Prize-winning operatic adaptation of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. Highlights of Mr. Mulligan’s symphonic work include Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with Donald Runnicles for his debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the Pacific Chorale.
The 2014-2015 brought Brian Mulligan to the San Francisco Opera for a role debut in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera as Count Anckarström, conducted by Nicola Luisotti, a new production of La bohème as Marcello, and upcoming, Chorebus in David McVicar’s new production of Berlioz’ Les Troyens, conducted by Donald Runnicles. He returned to Oper Frankfurt in a role debut as Amfortas in Parsifal, conducted by Bertrand de Billy and as Tadeusz in a new production of Weinberg’s The Passenger. This summer, Mr. Mulligan will return to the Aspen Music Festival and School in a role debut as Amonasro in Aida, conducted by Robert Spano. On the orchestral stage, Mr. Mulligan will appear as the baritone soloist in Orff’s Carmina burana with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, conducted by Gustavo Dudamel, as well as at Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Music Festival.
In the 2013–2014 season, Brian Mulligan performed his role and house debut in the challenging role of Prospero in the Oper Frankfurt production of Thomas Ades’ The Tempest. He also returned to the San Francisco Opera to perform Sharpless in Madama Butterfly conducted by Nicola Luisotti and continued his season by making house debuts at Opernhaus Zürich as Yeletsky in a new production by Robert Carsen of Pique Dame, conducted by Jiri Belohlavec and at the Wexford Opera Festival where he performed in a double bill of Massenet’s operas La Navarraise and Thérèse.
Brian Mulligan returned to San Francisco Opera in the 2012–2013 as the Herald in Lohengrin conducted by Mo. Luisotti. He then sang with Lyric Opera of Chicago as the Father in Hansel and Gretel and debuted with the Canadian Opera Company as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor conducted by Stephen Lord. He performed the title role of Hamlet with Minnesota Opera, and appeared with the Aspen Music Festival as Balstrode in Peter Grimes, conducted by Robert Spano. Symphonic highlights for the 2012–2013 season included a debut with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Carmina burana conducted by Marin Aslop, a performance of Brahms’ Requiem with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the West Coast Premiere of Lieberson’s The World in Flower and Handel’s Messiah with the Houston Symphony.
Operatic highlights include Mr. Mulligan’s debut at the Metropolitan Opera while still a student at Juilliard, in Die Frau ohne Schatten. Since then he has made many celebrated debuts at the world’s leading opera houses. Particularly memorable performances are his returns to San Francisco Opera and the Metropolitan Opera (with Yannick Nézet-Séguin) as Valentin in Faust, the title role in John Adams’ Nixon in China at San Francisco Opera, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with Washington National Opera, a new production directed by Catherine Malfitano at Lyric Opera of Chicago and in the David Alden production at Canadian Opera Company and English National Opera. He also portrayed Albert in Werther, Ragueneau in Cyrano de Bergerac Sharpless in Madama Butterfly and a debut at English National Opera as Sharpless in Anthony Minghella’s production. Other highlights included a return to Los Angeles Opera as Prometheus in a new production of Walter Braunfels’s Die Vögel as well as Melot in that company’s Tristan und Isolde, both conducted by Mo. Conlon; Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia and a Kinderstimmen in Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Metropolitan Opera; Ford in Falstaff with Japan’s Saito Kinen Festival, conducted by Seiji Ozawa; Jake Wallace in La fanciulla del West, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with Harry Bicket and Masetto in Don Giovanni with New York City Opera; the title role in Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer with Opera Theatre of St. Louis; Malatesta in Don Pasquale and Sharpless at Palm Beach Opera; Silvio in I pagliacci with the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra in New Zealand; Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles at Opera Colorado; a debut with San Diego Opera as Valentin in Faust; Lescaut in Manon Lescaut at New Orleans Opera; Tarquinius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at Central City Opera; Prometheus in Die Vögel with Julius Rudel and Capulet in Roméo et Juliette at the Spoleto USA Festival. Puccini’s La bohème has served as a calling card work for Brian Mulligan where he has performed the roles of Marcello at San Francisco Opera, the Houston Grand Opera and Los Angeles Opera.
On the concert stage, recent seasons include a debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, singing Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 under Gustavo Dudamel, now available on DVD, which traveled to Caracas, Venezuela for additional performances and a live, HD telecast, seen in over 450 move theatrer across North America. Other appearances include a Chicago Symphony debut in the world premiere performances of Songs for Adam, a cycle of meditations on Adam and Eve by composer James Primosch and poet Susan Stewart, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis. Other highlights include Carmina burana with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Handel’s Judas Maccabæus with Mo. Conlon and members of the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, a debut with the Cleveland Orchestra in Vaughan Williams’ A Sea Symphony; concert versions of Der Kaiser von Atlantis with Houston Grand Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic and The Ravinia Festival under the baton of Mo. Conlon, where he also performed Mahler’s Das klagende Lied, Mendelssohn’s Paulus with the Houston Symphony and Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Mahler’s Das Knaben Wunderhorn with the Phoenix Symphony under Michael Christie. With the American Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Mulligan was seen in the role of Titus in Magnard’s rarely performed Bérénice at Carnegie Hall.
A graduate of the Juilliard School, Mr. Mulligan has been awarded a Richard Tucker Career Grant, a Sara Tucker Study Grant, the George London Prize, for which he appeared in recital with Ken Noda and soprano Lisette Oropesa in 2012, and the International Hans Gabor Belvedere Vocal Competition.
