Arizona Opera Cast Members & Creatives

Grammy-award winning dramatic baritone, Richard Paul Fink, has been acclaimed internationally in appearances with theaters that include The Metropolitan Opera, Wiener Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Berlin State Opera, Opera National de Paris, San Francisco Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Washington National Opera, San Diego Opera, Hamburg State Opera, Welsh National Opera, Scottish Opera, Theatre du Capitole in Toulouse, and Sydney Opera as well as at the Bregenz and Ravinia Festivals.

Upcoming performances include Appomattox with Washington National Opera, Rusalka with Houston Grand Opera and Samson and Delilah with Dallas Opera.

His repertoire comprises some of the most challenging roles of the baritone canon: the title role in Wagner's The Flying Dutchman, Telramund in Wagner's Lohengrin, Pizarro in Beethoven's Fidelio, the title roles in Verdi's Nabucco and Rigoletto, as well as Iago in Otello, Scarpia in Tosca, Gerard in Giordano's Andrea Chenier, and Escamillo in Carmen among others. One of his signature roles, Alberich in Wagner's Ring cycle, he has sung at the Metropolitan Opera under James Levine as well as Ring cycles in Vienna, Los Angeles, Berlin, Dallas, Toronto, Seattle, and Vienna.

He’s also sung Klingsor in Wagner's Parsifal under the baton of James Levine, Claudio Abbado, Christoph Eschenbach, James Conlon and Valery Gergiev.

Mr. Fink sang multiple world premieres including John Harbison's The Great Gatsby at the Metropolitan Opera under James Levine and John Adam's Dr. Atomic at the San Francisco Opera under Donald Runnicles, and he starred in the European and Chicago premieres of the same work.

He sang The Metropolitan Opera's premiere of Adam's Nixon in China and the title role of Alban Berg's Wozzeck at the Santa Fe Opera Festival. He also sang Amonasro in Aida at the Seattle Opera before returning to the Metropolitan Opera as Teller in Dr. Atomic.  For Canadian Opera Company, he sang the Water Sprite in Dvorak's Rusalka, a role he also sang in Naples and in Houston.

Another Wagner role is Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde at the Metropolitan Opera. His Chicago Lyric Opera debut was Teller in Dr. Atomic before and returning to San Francisco as Alberich in Francesca Zambello's production of Das Rheingold, conducted by Donald Runnicles.

Mr. Fink debuted at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress under Daniele Gatti and at the Netherlands Opera in the European premiere of Dr. Atomic.

Richard Paul Fink began his professional career with the Houston Grand Opera where he performed in twelve productions and won particular acclaim as Telramund in Wagner's Lohengrin, Jokanaan in Salome, the Water Sprite in Dvorak's Rusalka and  Klingsor in a production of Parsifal staged by Robert Wilson.

He has been a frequently invited guest in many other theaters throughout North America: Dallas Opera, Miami Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Portland Opera, San Diego Opera, Tulsa Opera, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Boston Opera, Vancouver Opera, Opera Omaha, L'Opera de Montreal and many others. He made his Washington Opera debut in a revival of a rarely heard work, d'Albert's Tiefland, and returned subsequently as Orest in Elektra and Johanaan in Salome.

In addition to the Wagner roles, he has sung performances in North America that are cornerstones of the Italian repertoire: Gerard in Andrea Chenier for Seattle Opera and Opera Company of Philadelphia, Scarpia for Dallas, Milwaukee and Opera Pacific and Barnaba in La Gioconda in Miami and Montreal.

Mr. Fink sang Macbeth for Opera Pacific and repeated the role for New York City Opera, along with Iago in Verdi's Otello at the Miami Opera and Rigoletto for L'Opera de Montreal, Kansas City Lyric and Welsh National Opera. He also sang Eugene Onegin for the Atlanta Opera.

In the 2004/05 season, Mr. Fink made his debut at the Teatro Real in Madrid as Telramund in Lohengrin and at the Teatro Regio in Trieste in his first Nick Shadow in Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress. He sang was also heard at the Teatro Municipal in Santiago, Chile, in the title role of The Flying Dutchman, as the Four Villains in The Tales of Hoffmann for Opera Tel Aviv and New Orleans Opera, as well as Alfio and Tonio in Tulsa Opera's production of Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci.

Richard Paul Fink's first international appearances included productions at the Welsh National Opera of Tristan und Isolde, Der Freischütz, Carmen and Rigoletto. He appeared in Toulouse in Il Trovatore, at the Bregenz Festival as Don Pizarro and at the Spoleto Festival in Die Tote Stadt. He starred in the title role in Wagner's The Flying Dutchman for his debuts at the Canadian Opera, the Sydney Opera and the Palacio de las Bellas Artes in Mexico City.

He was also heard in this role in 2001 with the Berlin Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado followed by performances at the Salzburg Festival in 2002 again under James Levine. He made his Deutsche Oper Berlin in 2003 in The Flying Dutchman.

In concerts, he has also appeared frequently in concert with the Houston Symphony under Christoph Eschenbach and made his debut with the San Francisco Symphony in concert performances of Fidelio. He also sang with the Houston Symphony in the War Requiem by Britten. He sang Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex for the Seattle Symphony under Gerard Schwarz, Orff's Carmina Burana at the Cincinnati May Festival under James Conlon and Verdi's Requiem in Houston under Robert Shaw.