Gerard Powers

Biography

Mr. Powers’ opera engagements in USA include Rodolfo in La Boheme, Ruggero in La Rondine, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Germont in La Traviata, and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly all with New York City Opera. He recently portrayed the title role in Les Contes D’Hoffmann with Baltimore Opera, Utah Festival Opera, and Central City Opera, as well as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Central City Opera, which marked Catherine Malfitano’s directorial debut. He sang Ruggero in La Rondine with Utah Opera, Don Jose in Carmen for his debut with Houston Grand Opera, and also with Opera Tampa Bay and Michigan Opera Theatre, both Nicias in Thais and Rodolfo in La Boheme with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and Herisson de Porc-Epic in L’Etoile with Cincinnati Opera. He portrayed Gerald in Lakme with Michigan Opera Theatre, the Duke in Rigoletto with Portland Opera Repertory Theatre in Maine, Fenton in Falstaff with Opera Illinois, and Leicester in Rossini’s Elisabetta, Regina d’Inghilterra at the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse in New York.
During the 2006/07 season Mr. Powers sang Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Boston Lyric Opera, Richard Smythe in Jake Heggie’s The End of the Affair at Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and the role of Rodolfo in a Gala concert performance of La Boheme with Florida Grand Opera in celebration of their new theater.
In the 2007/08 season, Mr. Powers sang Rodolfo in La Boheme with Opera Columbus, Prunier in La Rondine at the San Francisco Opera, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with the Fresno Grand Opera. In the 2008/09 season, he sang Hoffmann in Les contes d’Hoffmann at the Boston Opera and Cavaradossi in Tosca at the Arizona Opera.

Recent opera engagements in Europe include the title role in Les Contes D’Hoffmann, the title role in Werther, and Luigi in Il Tabarro all with De Vlaamse Opera in Belgium, Rodolfo in a Francesca Zambello production of La Boheme at Royal Albert Hall in London, and Anatol in Vanessa with the Teatro Massimo in Palermo, Italy. In addition, he portrayed Alfredo in La Traviata in Belgium’s Vorst Nationaal, Germany’s Cologne Arena, and Lisbon’s Atlantico-Pavilhao, sang Penelope with the Wexford Opera Festival in Ireland, and Don Jose in Carmen at Munich’s Olympiahalle. He was Rodolfo in La Boheme, Don Jose in Carmen, and Ismaele in Nabucco all at the Cologne Arena, and also sang Ismaele at Belgium’s Vorst Nationaal. In 2007, Mr. Powers sang Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Royal Albert Hall in London. In the 2008/09 season, he sang Rodolfo at the Goteborg Opera.

Mr. Powers sang Verdi’s Requiem with the New York Vocal Artists at Carnegie Hall, Mozart’s Requiem with L’Orchestre National de Lille, and both Dvorak’s Stabat Mater and Kodaly’s Pslamus Hungaricus with the Oratorio Society of New York. Performances at Alice Tully Hall in New York include the roles of Gosta Berling in Zandonai’s I Cavalieri di Ekebu as well as Federico in Cilea’s L’Arlesiana both with Teatro Grattacielo, and Haroun in Bizet’s Djamileh and Kornelis in Saint-Saens’s La Princesse Jaune with L’Opera Francais de New York. Additional pieces in his repertoire include Bach’s Saint John Passion, Saint Matthew Passion, and Lobet Gott in Seinen Reichen, as well as Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, and the role of Nicholas in Benjamin Britten’s cantata entitled Saint Nicholas.

He made his Bolshoi Theatre debut in 2008 in the premiere production of Carmen singing the part of Jose (conductor Yuri Temirkanov, director David Pountney).