Rod Gilfry is a two-time Grammy nominee, singer and actor who performs in operas, musicals, recitals and cabaret world-wide. He appears on over 30 recordings. An important part of his 75-role repertoire are the 13 leading roles he has created in new operas. Recent performance highlights include a role debut as Baron Scarpia in Tosca at the Houston Grand Opera, Claudius in Brett Dean’s Hamlet at the Bavarian State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera, and Owen Hart in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking at the Metropolitan Opera.
In the summer of 2019, he began a tour of Kevin Puts’ The Brightness of Light with soprano Renée Fleming at the Tanglewood Festival, which they later performed with the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center, the Colorado Symphony, the Naples Philharmonic, the Dallas Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Los Angeles Opera, the Chicago Lyric Opera, the Aspen Festival, and the Oregon Symphony.
In the 2023/24 season Rod Gilfry appears as Claudius in Brett Dean’s Hamlet at the Bayerische Staatsoper and Opera Australia in Sydney, Owen Hart in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking at the Metropolitan Opera, Henrik in Kaija Saariaho’s Innocence at the San Francisco Opera, and Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte on tour in Japan with the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy. In concert, he appears in a gala concert with Renée Fleming and the Fort Worth Symphony, in concert with soprano Sumi Jo at the Yaamava Theater in California, a gala performance with the Detroit Opera, as the title role in Sweeney Todd with the Virginia Symphony, as the baritone soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, and in Handel’s Messiah with the Nashville Symphony.
Recent appearances include the Marquis de la Force in Houston Grand Opera’s Dialogues of the Carmelites, Robert McNamara in the world premiere of Huang Ruo and David Henry Hwang’s The Rift at the Washington National Opera, the premiere of David Lang's solo opera the loser at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and the Los Angeles Opera, as Walt Whitman in the premiere of Matthew Aucoin's Crossing in Boston, Brooklyn and Los Angeles; as Mr. Potter in the premiere of Jake Heggie's It's a Wonderful Life at the Houston Grand Opera and San Francisco Opera.
Mr. Gilfry was born and raised in Southern California where he earned advanced degrees from Cal State Fullerton and the University of Southern California. He was a member of the Frankfurt Opera ensemble from 1987 to 1989 and the Zurich Opera ensemble from 1989 to 1994. Mr. Gilfry was an Associate Professor of Vocal Arts at the USC Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles for nearly 15 years, but recently retired to make more time for performing.