New York City's Premier Concert Opera Company
Keith Chambers has conducted over 150 performances of nearly 50 different operas for companies including The Dallas Opera, Amarillo Opera, Shreveport Opera, Asheville Lyric Opera, First Coast Opera, American Lyric Theater, Manhattan Opera Studio, Moores Opera Center, The Living Opera, Martha Cardona Opera, Opera in the Ozarks, and American Opera Projects. He has served as Cover Conductor for over 40 different operas and has assisted noted conductors including Emmanuel Villaume, Patrick Summers, Willie Anthony Waters, and Riccardo Frizza, among others. He is currently the Principal Guest Conductor of Manhattan Opera Studio and the Founder & Artistic Director of New Amsterdam Opera.
A strong relationship with The Dallas Opera has provided Mr. Chambers with the opportunity to conduct The Dallas Opera Family Concerts and student performances of The Elixir of Love. He recently led Un giorno di regno for the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program and has conducted for Amarillo Opera (Tosca), Manhattan Opera Studio (Radamisto,Hänsel & Gretel, Le nozze di Figaro), American Opera Projects (Nora, in the Great Outdoors), Martha Cardona Opera (Tosca, Gianni Schicchi, Cavalleria rusticana), Sugar Land Opera (The Impresario, The Station), New York Lyric Opera (Cendrillon, Le nozze di Figaro, Pagliacci, Rigoletto, Hansel & Gretel), Opera in the Ozarks (Don Giovanni, L’elisir d’amore), and Halifax Summer Opera (Giulio Cesare). For Asheville Lyric Opera, he has conducted performances of Man of La Mancha and Roméo et Juliette, of which the Asheville Citizen-Times wrote that “it is easy to see why the conductor Keith Chambers is in demand.”
Recent conducting performances include La bohème for Florida State University, Il barbiere di Siviglia for Opera Orlando, Die Zauberflöte for Queens College, Suor Angelica & Gianni Schicchi at the Wiener Kammeroper for Vienna Summer Music Festival, and Hérodiade for New Amsterdam Opera.
Upcoming engagements include conducting Our Town for West Texas A&M University, Cendrillon for Furman University, Don Giovanni for Indianapolis Opera, Carmen for Vienna Summer Music Festival, and I Vespri Siciliani for New Amsterdam Opera.
In past seasons, he conducted Werther for Martha Cardona Opera at Merkin Hall, and he made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting Die Zauberflöte and has appeared with Crested Butte Music Festival (Rigoletto), Toledo Opera (Cavalleria rusticana, Rigoletto, Falstaff, Ariadne auf Naxos), Opera Saratoga (Gala performance of Tosca), Seattle Opera YAP (Ariadne auf Naxos), Permian Basin Opera, and Connecticut Opera.
For New Amsterdam Opera, he has conducted the inaugural performance of the company with Beethoven's Fidelio. Mr. Chambers conducted Verdi's La forza del destino, of which Parterre.com wrote "Keith Chambers, the company’s director, is also its conductor...the intensity of the overture proved contagious and the ensembles held together nicely. His choices of snips to make to keep the running time below four hours escaped the vigilance of all but the pedantic; the result flowed most impressively. His taste in scores to revive and singers to perform them is exceptional. With the loss of OONY, he fills a niche. I hope word spreads of his success and that other such occasions result."
Mr. Chambers has served as Chorus Master for over 30 productions, including Opera New Jersey (La traviata, Carmen, Die Fledermaus, Madama Butterfly, Tosca, La Cenerentola, The Merry Widow, Lucia di Lammermoor, The Mikado, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Il trovatore, H.M.S. Pinafore, Don Pasquale, Don Giovanni, Faust), Opera Saratoga (L’elisir d’amore, Die Zauberflöte), Moores Opera Center (Casanova’s Homecoming, L’Italiana in Algeri, La bohème, Der Freischütz, Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Katya Kabanova), Opera in the Ozarks (L’elisir d’amore, Die Fledermaus, Die Zauberflöte), and Shreveport Opera (Madama Butterfly, Carousel, Carmen).
He maintains a strong musical presence as a conductor and coach in New York City, including extensive experience with new music and living composers. For American Lyric Theater, he conducted the workshop premiere of The Turing Project and The Poe Project, the latter in conjunction with Opera America's New Works Forum. He has also served as Music Director & Pianist for premieres of new operas at Symphony Space in New York City as part of American Lyric Theater's Adam and Eve project. For American Opera Projects, he conducted Nora, In The Great Outdoors at Lincoln Center and debuted with the PROTOTYPE Festival for Gregory Spears’ Paul’s Case.
Mr. Chambers is a former Assistant Conductor of New York City Opera, The Dallas Opera, Seattle Opera, and Toledo Opera. He has served as faculty of the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program, Westchester Summer Vocal Institute and the RESONANZ Festival and is the previous Artistic Director of The Living Opera, Principal Conductor and Casting Consultant for New York Lyric Opera, and Chorus Master of Shreveport Opera. He has also adjudicated orchestras for New York Sounds of Spring International Music Festival at Carnegie Hall.
An accomplished pianist, Mr. Chambers has appeared as concerto soloist with the Delaware Symphony, Clear Lake Symphony, and Naples Philharmonic, with conductors Erich Kunzel and Maurice Peress. A protégé of pianist Ivan Davis, he has been a featured guest artist at the Chopin Festival at the Catholic University in Peru, and the Chopin Foundation of Miami. He has appeared with soprano Kirsten Chambers in a series of joint solo piano and voice recitals at Lake George Opera and Northwestern State University. Mr. Chambers has been official pianist for The Dallas Opera Competition, Shreveport Opera Singer of the Year Competition, Amarillo Opera Gala, and the Fort Worth Opera McCammon Competition.