baritone

Baritone David Kravitz has been hailed for his "large, multi-layered," and "exceedingly expressive" voice, his "deeply considered acting," and his "deep understanding of the text." Recently the New York Times described him as "a charismatic baritone" and praised his "vividly etched and satisfying interpretation," and Opera News declared him "magnificently stentorian and resonant." The last few seasons have featured his role and company debuts as Scarpia in Tosca at Skylight Music Theatre, Pizarro in Fidelio with Grand Harmonie, Don Magnifico in La cenerentola at Opera Saratoga, Balstrode in Peter Grimes at Chautauqua Opera, and Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof at Ash Lawn Opera. He also created the roles of Davis Miller in D.J. Sparr's Approaching Ali at Washington National Opera, and of Rabbi Lampert in Ben Moore's Enemies, A Love Story at Palm Beach Opera. Other recent opera appearances include Dallas Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, New York City Opera, Odyssey Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Boston Lyric Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, Atlanta Opera, Florentine Opera, and Opera Memphis.

An experienced and versatile concert artist acclaimed as one of "the finest dramatic concert singers active today," Mr. Kravitz has appeared as a soloist under some of the world's leading conductors, including James Levine, Charles Dutoit, Seiji Ozawa, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, Masaaki Suzuki, and Bernard Haitink. His recent concert appearances include the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, the Virginia Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, the Boston Pops, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, Emmanuel Music, and Boston Baroque. He has recorded for the Naxos, Sono Luminus, Bis, BMOP/sound, Albany Records, Koch International Classics, and New World labels.

Performances

Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | November 18, 2016
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | November 22, 2015
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | March 5, 2015
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | November 10, 2012
Distler Performance Hall at Tufts University | September 25, 2009
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | March 20, 2009
Jordan Hall at New England Conservatory | October 1, 2004

News and Press

[CD Review] Textura reviews Gunther Schuller: The Fisherman and His Wife

In certain respects, The Fisherman and His Wife picks up where last year's recording by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP) and Odyssey Opera, the 2020 Grammy Award-winning Fantastic Mister Fox, left off. Both are delightful, ‘family friendly' operas based on endearing tales, Roald Dahl for Tobias Picker's and The Brothers Grimm (its libretto adaptation by John Updike) for Gunther Schuller's.

Textura Full review
[Concert Review] Moravec’s stunning “Blizzard Voices” receives powerful premiere from BMOP

Disastrous winters live long in historical memory. For example, there is the blizzard that hit the Great Plains in January of 1888, which caught many who lived in the Midwestern territories unawares. Known as the Children’s Blizzard, the storm trapped students and teachers in their one-room schoolhouses where they remained for days. Many who ventured out into the storm succumbed to frostbite. Others froze to death. In conservative estimates, several hundred people died.

Boston Classical Review Full review
[Concert Review] Michael Tippett's Midsummer madness

The first American production of any of Michael Tippett's five operas was Sarah Caldwell's The Ice Break for the Opera Company of Boston in 1979. In 1991, BU students did The Knot Garden. This year, Opera Boston scheduled the first Boston production of The Midsummer Marriage, Tippett's first opera (completed in 1952, after six years of work). But Opera Boston folded.

The Boston Phoenix Full review
[Concert Review] A Phoenix Rises from the Ashes of Opera Boston

Boston opera buffs were dealt a hard blow last December when Opera Boston, a company known for innovative productions of less familiar repertory, announced it was shutting down amid a financial and managerial crisis. But the company’s ambitious plans were not entirely sent to the scrap heap of operatic history: Sir Michael Tippett’s opera, The Midsummer Marriage – planned as the centerpiece of the company’s 2012 season – was reconceived as a concert production Saturday at Jordan Hall by the Boston Modern Orchestra Project (BMOP).

WQXR Full review
[Concert Review] BMOP proceeds with Tippett's 'Midsummer Marriage'

Before a note was played, Saturday night’s Boston Modern Orchestra Project performance of Michael Tippett’s first mature opera, “The Midsummer Marriage,” generated more good will and broader public curiosity than the average season-opener. That’s because the now-defunct Opera Boston had this rarely spotted Tippett opera on its agenda long before the company abruptly folded last December.

The Boston Globe Full review
[Concert Review] BMOP gives worthy advocacy to Tippett's unwieldy "Midsummer Marriage'

One door closes, another opens. With the demise of the ambitious company Opera Boston last year, director Gil Rose lost a chance to explore some of the gems in the outermost reaches of the stage repertory.

Fear not. Rose simply brought one such rarity, Michael Tippett’s The Midsummer Marriage—slated last season for Opera Boston but left unperformed—to his other adventurous ensemble, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project. BMOP performed a semi-staged version of the mid-20th century opera Saturday evening at Jordan Hall.

Boston Classical Review Full review
[Concert Review] More from the Voice of America

I’ve been slow to post my thoughts on the second half of the “Voice of America” concert I heard last Friday, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t enthusiastic about it. Indeed, this was probably the most rewarding Boston Modern Orchestra Project concert I’ve yet heard. Although I confess I don’t often hear this group; to me, there’s sometimes a problem built right into their concerts - they’re funded by the composers being played. I don’t mean to criticize this as a way of getting new music out before the public, and to be honest, what I’ve heard at BMOP has always been highly accomplished.

The Hub Review Full review
[Concert Review] Florestan and BMOP join forces to celebrate American vocal repertoire

This evening’s double concert in the Distler Performance Hall of Tufts’ Granoff Music Center began a 3-day festival involving a partnership between the Florestan Recital Project and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project to highlight American vocal music. The former’s presentation was the 1st of 3 concerts which together would span the entire vocal opus of Samuel Barber, aptly titled, “BarberFest,” while the latter highlights contemporary compositions for vocalist(s) and chamber orchestra.

Classical Voice of New England Full review
[Concert Review] Mad love

The destructive power of jealousy makes a good subject for opera. One of Shakespeare’s plays about this most irrational emotion, the tragedy Othello, has been turned into a very good opera by Rossini and a great one by Verdi and his best librettist, Arrigo Boito.

The Boston Phoenix Full review
[Concert Review] Harbison's ambitious Winter's Tale arrives with spring

John Harbison’s music is so ubiquitous here that you might think there was nothing more to discover. Yet until Friday, Boston had never heard Winter’s Tale, the Shakespeare-based opera he composed in the 1970s. The ever-intrepid Boston Modern Orchestra Project’s concert performance took place, ironically, on the first day of spring.

The Boston Globe Full review
[Concert Review] BMOP begins season in daring style

“The Boston Modern Orchestra Project filled Jordan Hall with song at its Friday-night season opener. The program, titled “Voices,” featured music for voice and orchestra delivered by a stage full of Boston’s finest musicians led by artistic director Gil Rose. . .

. . .Rose and company then dazzled with their go-for-the-gusto playing of the wall-shaking Sacred Song of Reconciliation by George Rochberg. Set to a Hebrew text, the music portrays the fearsome power of the Old Testament God. Bass-baritone David Kravitz conveyed that power in a performance of staggering impact.

The Boston Herald Full review