+++
date = "2017-11-09T19:59:00-05:00"
discipline = "Bass-baritone"
lastmod = "2017-11-09T19:59:00-05:00"
primary_image = "https://res.cloudinary.com/schmopera/image/upload/v1679619500/media/2023/03/RyanMcKinny_phvjgo.jpg"
primary_image_credit = "Simon Pauly"
publishDate = "2017-11-09T19:59:00-05:00"
related_companies = ["scene/companies/boston-lyric-opera-1.md", "scene/companies/san-francisco-opera.md", "scene/companies/washington-national-opera.md", "scene/companies/houston-grand-opera.md", "scene/companies/the-metropolitan-opera.md", "scene/companies/english-national-opera.md", "scene/companies/los-angeles-opera.md", "scene/companies/glimmerglass-festival.md", "scene/companies/deutsche-oper-berlin.md", "scene/companies/the-santa-fe-opera.md", "scene/companies/bayerische-staatsoper.md", "scene/companies/canadian-opera-company.md"]
slug = "ryan-mckinny"
title = "Ryan McKinny"
website = "http://www.ryanmckinny.com/en/"
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Recognized by _Opera News_ as “one of the finest singers of his generation,” American bass-baritone Ryan McKinny has earned his reputation as an artist with something to say. His relentless curiosity informs riveting character portrayals and beautifully crafted performances, reminding audiences of their shared humanity with characters on stage and screen.

This season, Ryan McKinny brings his commanding bass-baritone and incisive characterization to stage dramas spanning three centuries. At LA Opera, he makes his first appearances as one of opera’s most menacing villains, singing Scarpia opposite Angel Blue as Tosca and Michael Fabiano as Cavaradossi. Also in Los Angeles, Ryan re-teams with composer and conductor John Adams, reprising his role as Clarence in _Girls of the Golden West_ at LA Philharmonic. He returns to Seattle Opera as Kurwenal in Wagner’s epic _Tristan und Isolde_ and to Houston Grand Opera as Jochannan in _Salome_. Ryan also makes a dual role and house debut as Bluebeard in _Bluebeard’s Castle_ at Boston Lyric Opera, before concluding the season with a three-city tour of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s _For a Look or a Touch_, commissioned by Music of Remembrance, with performances in Seattle, San Francisco, and Chicago. Just announced: Ryan will star opposite Joyce DiDonato in Heggie’s _Dead Man Walking_ on opening night of the Metropolitan Opera’s 23/24 season.

Offstage, McKinny continues to adapt the beauty of his art form to the film screen, collaborating on a documentary with Jamie Barton and Stephanie Blythe. Through his work with Helio Arts, he has commissioned artists to write, direct, and film original stories, leveraging his personal power to help elevate new voices and visions in the classical performing arts world. During the pandemic, he has partnered with artists like J’Nai Bridges, Russell Thomas, John Holiday, and Julia Bullock to create stunning and innovative performances for streaming audiences at Dallas Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, On Site Opera, and the Glimmerglass Festival.

McKinny’s recent debut as Joseph De Rocher in Jake Heggie and Terrence McNally’s _Dead Man Walking _at Lyric Opera of Chicago was hailed by the _Chicago Tribune_ as “an indelible performance...an acting tour de force buttressed by a warmly inviting voice.” He has also appeared as the title character in _Don Giovanni_ (Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra), Escamillo in _Carmen_ (Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Hamburg, Houston Grand Opera), and Mozart’s Figaro (Washington National Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Seattle Opera, Metropolitan Opera).

McKinny made a critically acclaimed Bayreuth Festival debut as Amfortas in _Parsifal_, a role he has performed around the world, including appearances at Argentina’s Teatro Cólon, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, and Dutch National Opera. Other Wagnerian roles include Kurwenal in _Tristan und Isolde_ (Deutsche Oper Berlin, Houston Grand Opera, Canadian Opera Company), Biterolf in _Tannhäuser_ and Kothner in _Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg_, both at the Metropolitan Opera, Wotan in Opéra de Montréal’s _Das Rheingold_, Donner/Gunther in Wagner’s _Ring_ cycle (Washington National Opera, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Houston Grand Opera), and the titular Dutchman in _Der fliegende Holländer_ (Staatsoper Hamburg, Milwaukee Symphony, Glimmerglass Festival, Hawaii Opera Theater).

McKinny is a frequent guest artist at Los Angeles Opera, where he has sung Count Alamaviva in _Le nozze di Figaro_, Don Basilio in _Il barbiere di Siviglia_, and Stanley Kowalski in Previn’s _A Streetcar Named Desire_, opposite Renée Fleming as Blanche DuBois, and at Santa Fe Opera, where he has appeared as Jochanaan in _Salome_ and Oppenheimer in _Doctor Atomic_. An alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Mr. McKinny has made a number of important role debuts on the HGO mainstage, including the iconic title roles of _Don Giovanni_ and _Rigoletto_.

McKinny is a long-time artistic collaborator of composer John Adams and director Peter Sellars, having appeared in Sellars productions of Adams’ _Girls of the Golden West_ (San Francisco Opera, Dutch National Opera) and _Doctor Atomic_ (Santa Fe Opera), in addition to Adams’ _Nixon in China_ with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He has also performed under Sellars’ direction in Stravinsky’s _Oedipus Rex_ (Sydney Festival), _Tristan und Isolde_ (Canadian Opera Company), and Shostakovich’s _Orango_ with the London Philharmonia and Los Angeles Philharmonic, the latter comprising Esa-Pekka Salonen’s final concerts as music director.

Other recent orchestral engagements include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and a double bill of Michael Tilson Thomas’ _Rilke Songs_ and Mahler’s _Des Knaben Wunderhorn_ with San Francisco Symphony, Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and Bernstein’s Mass with Gustavo Dudamel and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, and National Symphony, Rossini’s Stabat Mater at Grant Park Music Festival, Britten’s _War Requiem_ with Marin Alsop and Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, and _Oedipus Rex_ with Chicago Symphony.

McKinny benefited from early educational opportunities at the Aspen Music Festival, where he sang his first performance of _Winterreise_ accompanied on the piano by Richard Bado, and at the Wolf Trap Opera Company, where he sang Barone di Kelbar in Verdi’s _Un giorno di regno_, Le Gouverneur in Rossini’s _Le comte Ory_ and Figaro in _Le nozze di Figaro_. McKinny made his Carnegie Hall debut in Handel’s _Messiah_ with the Musica Sacra Orchestra while still a student at the Juilliard School.

The first recipient of Operalia’s Birgit Nilsson Prize for singing Wagner, McKinny has also received the prestigious George London-Kirsten Flagstad Award, presented by the George London Foundation to a singer undertaking a significant Wagnerian career. McKinny represented the United States in the 2007 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, where he was a finalist in the Rosenblatt Recital Song Prize, and he was a Grand Finalist in the 2007 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, captured in the film _The Audition_.