Kyle Albertson
Bass-baritone Kyle Albertson is renowned not only for his versatile voice, confidence, and style, but also for his ability to bring a character to life on stage. Of his recent role debut as Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Fort Worth Opera, The Dallas Morning News raved: “With a drop-dead gorgeous bass-baritone, Kyle Albertson is younger than the usual Dr. Bartolo, but he’s no less delightful an object of mockery. When he turns on his falsetto to demonstrate an aria from his youth, he sounds like the famously out-of-tune Florence Foster Jenkins.” This season, Mr. Albertson will be making quite a large number of debuts, including a role debut of Sharpless in Madama Butterfly at Northern Lights Music Festival, Donner in Das Rheingold with the Minnesota Opera, in its first production of the opera, Lieutenant Horstmayer in Silent Night with Opera San Jose, and DeGuiche in Cyrano with Michigan Opera Theatre. He also will be making a house debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago for its production of Das Rheingold.
Recent operatic engagements include performances with the Metropolitan Opera as Masetto in Don Giovanni and for productions of Le nozze di Figaro, Die Zauberflöte, Dialogues des carmélites, The Merry Widow, and two productions of Manon; with Houston Grand Opera, he performed the role of Sacristan in Tosca and Mr. Rodriguez in Past the Checkpoints with Houston Grand Opera’s HGOco; with Atlanta Opera, the Sergeant of Police in Pirates of Penzance; a Dallas Opera debut as Zuniga in Carmen; a Fort Worth Opera debut singing Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Lyndon B. Johnson in the workshop of David T. Little’s opera JFK; a role debut as the title role of Sweeney Todd with Syracuse Opera; the role of Rucker Lattimore in Cold Sassy Tree with Sugar Creek Opera Festival; and the roles of the Prison Warden in Dead Man Walking, Hobson in Peter Grimes, and the Duke in Roméo et Juliette all with Des Moines Metro Opera.
A sought after concert artist, a few recent highlights of his concert career include the bass solo in Verdi’s Requiem with The Händel Society of Dartmouth; Papageno in Boston Youth Symphony’s concert performance of Die Zauberflöte at Symphony Hall; a Carnegie Hall debut in Rutter’s Mass of the Children and excerpts from Messiah; and a concert version of Der Rosenkavalier with Christoph Eschenbach and the National Symphony.
Earlier in his career, he made his début as Lescaut in Manon Lescaut with Opera Grand Rapids; his debut with Austin Lyric Opera as Count Monterone in Rigoletto; and appeared with Glimmerglass Opera as Gus O’Neill in John Musto’s Later the Same Evening, in productions of Cherubini’s Médée, and in the world premiere of A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck. Mr. Albertson enjoys a strong relationship with Chicago Opera Theater, having performed Quince in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Henry Kissinger in Nixon in China, lauded by the Chicago Sun Times and the Chicago Tribune for his “watchful” and “effective” portrayal.
As an Apprentice Artist at Santa Fe Opera for two seasons, his assignments included Les contes d’Hoffmann, La traviata, Le nozze di Figaro, Gluck’s Alceste, and the world premiere of Paul Moravec’s The Letter. Mr. Albertson is a graduate of the Resident Artist Program at Minnesota Opera. During his time there, he performed in Un ballo in maschera, L’italiana in Algeri, Roméo et Juliette, Les contes d’Hoffmann, Le nozze di Figaro, La donna del lago, and Lakmé, to which critics hailed “Kyle Albertson made an imposing Nilakantha, bringing life to a character that is barely two-dimensional.” With the Merola Opera Program, Mr. Albertson sang the role of Geronimo in Cimarosa’s Il matrimonio segreto and as a member of the Aspen Opera Theater Center, Mr. Albertson performed Escamillo in Carmen, Besso in Giasone, Harašta in The Cunning Little Vixen, and Count Monterone in Rigoletto.
Mr. Albertson won second place in The Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition, was a finalist in the George London Foundation Competition, a finalist in the Marcello Giordani Competition, a finalist in the Liederkranz Competition, and a national semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He holds a Master of Music degree from DePaul University, where he studied with world renowned mezzo-soprano Susanne Mentzer, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Northern Iowa, where he studied with David Smalley. He is currently in the studio of Dr. Steven King.
