Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

American baritone Norman Garrett, a native of Lubbock, Texas, is a recent alumnus of the Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Program at Washington National Opera.

Highlights of Norman Garrett’s 2015-2016 season feature his European debut with the Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland as the title role in a new production of Delius’ Koanga by Michael Gieleta, conducted by Stephen Barlow.

Highlights of Mr. Garrett’s 2014-2015 season included his return to WNO as Ríolobo in Daniel Catán'sFlorencia in the Amazon and his Lyric Opera of Chicago company debut as Jake in Porgy and Bess, both directed by Francesca Zambello, as well as his return to Cincinnati Opera as Mandarino in Turandotunder the baton of Ramón Tebar. Mr. Garrett also made his debuts with the Philadelphia Orchestra in a Gershwin program conducted by Cristian Măcelaru, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl as the Marchese in La Traviata conducted by Diego Matheuz, the National Philharmonic at the Music Center at Strathmore in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, and the Lubbock Symphony as Escamillo in a concert performance of Carmen.

Mr. Garrett made his Washington National Opera debut in the 2012-2013 season, where he was seen as Masetto in Don Giovanni (Domingo-Cafritz Young Artist Performance), in the premiere of the American Opera Initiative, and as the Father in Hansel and Gretel. He has recently appeared at WNO as Papageno in The Magic Flute, a Steersman in Tristan und Isolde, Captain Gardiner in Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick, and in the world premiere of Jeanine Tesori’s The Lion, the Unicorn and Me. He made his Wolf Trap Opera debut in 2013 as a Filene Young Artist, performing the roles of Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff and Il Barone di Trombonok in Rossini’s Il viaggio a Reims. He returned to Wolf Trap Opera in the 2014 season to reprise the role of Escamillo in Carmen and to portray the role of Son Ami in a new production of Milhaud’s rarely-performed Le pauvre matelot. In 2012, he made his Glimmerglass Festival debut covering La Haine in Armide and Amonasro in Aida, a role he reprised at Opera Santa Barbara in the following season.

A former resident artist of the Academy of Vocal Arts, he has been seen on stage with Kentucky Opera, Cincinnati Opera, and Philadelphia’s Center City Opera Theater, where he performed Marcello in La bohème, Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Malatesta in Don Pasquale, and Guglielmo in Così fan tutte. Previous concert work includes appearances with the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, the Southwest Florida Symphony in Ft. Myers, and the Penn Symphony Orchestra. He has also collaborated with the Dolce Suono Ensemble in recital.

Mr. Garrett is a winner of the 2014 George London Foundation Competition. In the past three years, he has garnered top prizes in more than a dozen international vocal competitions, including the Gerda Lissner Foundation, the William Matheus Sullivan Foundation, the Jensen Foundation, the Giulio Gari Foundation, Fort Worth Opera’s McCammon Competition, and the Licia Albanese-Puccini Competition. He is a graduate of the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and Texas Tech University.