New Amsterdam Opera

Since his Metropolitan Opera debut as Enrico in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor in October 2007, American baritone Stephen Gaertner has emerged as an artist to watch in the operatic world. His other roles at the Metropolitan Opera have included Melot in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde, Paolo in Verdi’s Simon Boccanegra, Montano in Verdi’s Otello and Chorèbe in Berlioz’s Les Troyens. He made his European debut in December 2010 with Opéra Royal de Wallonie in Liège, Belgium as Escamillo in Bizet’s Carmen. Recent career highlights have included an appearance with the 2013 Savonlinna Opera Festival in Savonlinna, Finland in the title role of Verdi’s Macbeth, a role he reprised for the 2015 Opernfestspiele Heidenheim in Heidenheim, Germany. He made a stunning U.K. debut on November 27, 2015 at London’s Barbican Hall as Cascart in Leoncavallo’s Zazà with Opera Rara and Maurizio Benini conducting the BBC Symphony Orchestra, garnering high praise from the exigent London press; a studio recording of the opera was released on CD in June 2016 to equally enthusiastic reviews. Future engagements include an Italian debut in July 2016 with Teatro di San Carlo, Naples as Amonasro in Verdi’s Aida, as well as an appearance in October 2016 with Teatro de la Ópera de Puerto Rico, San Juan as Iago in Verdi’s Otello.

Mr. Gaertner has also been a frequent performer of opera in concert, having made his professional debut in 2000 with Teatro Grattacielo at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall as Cristiano in Zandonai’s I Cavalieri di Ekebù; he appeared again with Teatro Grattacielo in 2005 as Cascart in Zazà under the baton of the late Alfredo Silipigni. He also made several appearances with Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall...as Sonora in Puccini's La Fanciulla del West (2004), as Abayaldos in Donizetti’s Dom Sébastien (2006) and as Frank in Puccini’s Edgar (2008), all under the baton of founder and music director emeritus Eve Queler.

Mr. Gaertner has performed extensively across North America in such diverse roles as Riccardo in I Puritani, Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, Germont in La Traviata, Escamillo in Carmen, Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana, Silvio in Pagliacci, Marcello in La bohème, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly, Gianni Schicchi, Lanceotto in Rachmaninoff’s Francesca da Rimini and Balstrode in Peter Grimes. His other concert appearances have included Britten’s War Requiem at Catholic University in Washington, DC (2005) and Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem at Carnegie Hall with the New England Symphonic Ensemble (2010). He has also been the recipient of awards from the Licia Albanese-Puccini Foundation, Opera Index Inc. and the Oratorio Society of New York.

Mr. Gaertner lives in New York City and continues private vocal studies with New York-based voice teacher Michael Paul.