A Santa Fe Opera favorite and former apprentice, Corey McKern is
reprising the role of Marcello
in La Bohème. Of his performance in the production's 2007 premiere,
Craig Smith of the Santa Fe New
Mexican wrote: "Corey McKern's resolute, robust-voiced and
rambunctious Marcello . . . was one of the
best I've ever heard." In addition to his Marcello in 2007, the young
baritone portrayed Adrast in
Daphne that same year, appeared as Pallante in Agrippina in 2004, and,
most recently, was Masetto in
the 2009 production of Don Giovanni.
During the 2010–2011 season, Mr. McKern's engagements include
Marcello in his debuts with
Opera Hong Kong and Michigan Opera Theater, Count Almaviva in The
Marriage of Figaro with Nashville
Opera and Opera Columbus, Figaro in The Barber of Seville with Tulsa
Opera, Enrico in Lucia di
Lammermoor in a return to Opera Birmingham, and Zurga in The Pearl
Fishers with Syracuse Opera. In
the summer of 2010 he performed The Count/Rudolf in in Schreker‘s Der
Ferne Klang in his debut with
Bard Summerscape and John Rutter's Mass of the Children and Mozart's
Requiem at Carnegie Hall.
In addition to his opera repertory, Corey McKern is an active concert
performer. He made his
Carnegie Hall debut as the baritone soloist in the Fauré Requiem and
he also appeared with the New
Choral Society in Handel's Messiah, Brahms' Requiem, and Orff's
Carmina Burana. His oratorio credits
include Vaughan Williams' Dona Nobis Pacem and a concert of operetta
highlights with the Indianapolis
Symphony.