Corey McKern, Biography

Praised by New York Classical Review for his "crisp singing and articulation" and the Boston Globe for
"wielding an elegant baritone," American baritone Corey McKern continues to be a singer to watch. He appears with opera companies and symphonies throughout the United States and on international stages.

Among the scheduled highlights in Mr. McKern's 2016/17 performance season is his role debut as Owen Hart in Dead Man Walking with Pensacola Opera. On the concert platform he will be heard with the Talahassee Syphony and in recital at the University of Montevallo in Birmingham. Corey also enters his second year as a Visitng Professor of Music at the University of West Florida.

In the 2015/16 Season Corey McKern appeared as a soloist with the Phoenix Symphony in Handel's Messiah, as well as with the Seattle Symphony and Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra in Beethoven's Symphony no. 9. Corey also made an exciting return to Carnegie Hall as a soloist in Beethoven’s Mass in C with the New York Choral Society. On the opera stage, Corey returned to Pensacola Opera as Danilo in Lehár's The Merry Widow and Nashville and Florentine Operas as Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus.

Highlights in Mr. McKern's 2014/15 Season included house debuts with the Phoenix Symphony, Atlanta Opera and Florida Grand Opera. Corey also made an important role debut in the title role of Hamlet with Opera Birmingham, earning much critical acclaim for his performance including the following from Michael Huebner of artsbham.com: "Corey McKern has never sounded better with this company, nor projected such torturous anguish."

Corey kicked off his 2013/14 Season with a role debut as MacHeath in The Threepenny Opera with Indianapolis Opera. He then retured to Nashville Opera as Figaro in ll barbiere di Siviglia and Opera Birmingham as Silvio in I Pagliacci. He also made his Seattle Symphony debut as a soloist in Carmina Burana. Finally, in May 2014, Mr. McKern rounded out his season as Marcello in La boheme with Florentine Opera.

Highlights in Mr. McKern’s 2012/13 Season included a company debut with Austin Lyric Opera as Silvio in I Pagliacci, a role debut as Dandini in La Cenerentola with Nashville Opera, plus a debut with the St. Louis Symphony performing Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and Wozzeck. Mr. McKern also appeared as the Count in Le nozze di Figaro with Syracuse Opera, Anthony in Sweeney Todd with Pensacola Opera, King Henry II in Becket with Long Island Masterworks, and returned to both Opera Omaha and Opera Birmingham as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte.

Mr. McKern has enjoyed long and artistically diverse relationship with The Santa Fe Opera where he has appeared as Marcello in La bohéme, Masetto in Don Giovanni, Pallante in Agrippina, the 1st Shepherd in Daphne and has covered Valentin in Faust, Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore and the title role in Wozzeck. His most recent project with the company centered on a performance tour and a recording of Shoes for the Santo Niño.

The singer is equally a house favorite at Opera Birmingham where he has performed as Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor, Escamillo in Carmen, Ping in Turandot, Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia and the Count in Le nozze di Figaro. Mr. McKern has also made regular, notable appearances with Opera Omaha as John Brooke in Little Women, Ping in Turandot and Slook in The Marriage Contract.

Mr. McKern’s schedule highlights in previous Seasons include his Asian debut as Marcello in La bohème with Opera Hong Kong, a role he also performed with Nashville Opera and Opera Grand Rapids; the Count in Le nozze di Figaro with Nashville Opera, Opera Cleveland, Opera Columbus and Michigan Opera Theatre; Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Pensacola Opera and Syracuse Opera; Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Pilot in The Little Prince at Tulsa Opera; his role debut as Zurga in Les Pêcheurs de Perles with the Syracuse Opera; the Count/Rudolf in Schreker’s Der Ferne Klang in his debut with BARD Summerscape; Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with Arizona Opera and Tulsa Opera; Silvio in I Pagliacci with Arizona Opera and Central City Opera; Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos at the Indianapolis Opera; Valentin in Faust with Opera Carolina and Pish-Tush in The Mikado with Arizona Opera.

Equally active on the concert platform, Mr. McKern made his Carnegie Hall debut in Faure’s Requiem and recently returned to the prestigious concert hall for John Rutter’s Mass of the Children and Mozart’s Requiem. His other recent concert engagements include Mahler’s Ruckert-Lieder with the Missoula Symphony and performances with the New Choral Society in Handel’s Messiah, Brahms’ Requiem and Orff’s Carmina Burana, a work he also performed with the Yakima Symphony Orchestra and the San Juan Symphony in Colorado. Mr. McKern’s oratorio credits include Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem and a concert of operetta highlights with the Indianapolis Symphony.

Mr. McKern is a former grant recipient from the Sullivan Foundation, as well as the first place winner of Opera Birmingham, Shreveport Opera, and Mobile Opera competitions. He holds a Master of Music degree from Indiana University and Bachelor of Music Education from Mississippi State University. He is also a graduate of the Seattle Opera Young Artist Program.

Updated JULY 2016