Praised by Opera News for his “imposing baritone” and “supple vibrant baritone that he deploys with unaffected lyricism and manifest honesty”, American baritone Jarrett Porter is quickly garnering a reputation as a fearless talent and commanding intellect.
In the 2022-2023 season, Porter joins the Internationale Opernstudio at Oper Frankfurt, where he will make his debut as Hausofmeister in Brigitte Fassbaender’s production of Strauss’s Cappriccio, under the baton of Sebastien Weigle. Throughout the season with the company, he will sing Leone in R.B. Schlather’s critically acclaimed Tamerlano, create the role of Edgar in Vito Zuraj’s World Premiere Blühen, sing the Elder Son and The Herold in Britten’s The Prodigal Son / The Burning Fiery Furnace, and sing Herzog Hoël in a rare staging of Frank Martin’s Le Vin Herbé. Porter returns to Opera Theatre of Saint Louis to create the role of Oliver Sacks in the World Premiere of Tobias Picker’s Awakenings, and will join the roster of Artists in Residence of Marlboro Music, collaborating with Mitsuko Uchida, Jonathan Biss, and Lydia Brown.
In the 2021-2022 season Jarrett Porter played Nick Shadow in Louisa Muller’s staging of The Rake’s Progress at The Juilliard School. On the recital stage, he joined pianist Taylor Hutchinson at Truman University for a program of Vaughan Williams’s The House of Life and Schumann’s Dichterliebe, and works with composer Amelia Brey to premiere her new songs Inadequate Night at Juilliard. In April of 2022, Porter makes his professional debut at Arizona Opera as Guglielmo in Così fan Tutte.
As a sought-after recitalist and collaborator, Jarrett Porter has recently been heard at Reitstadl (Neumarkt in der Oberpfalz) with French pianist Juliette Journaux, broadcast by Bavarian Radio. Porter has held fellowships at the Ravinia Stean’s Music Institute at The Ravinia Festival, and at SongFest at the Hidden Valley Music Festival under the mentorship of Sir Thomas Allen and Graham Johnson. Porter's song performances have often centered on Schubert, including a lieder performance on National Public Radio with pianist Taylor Hutchinson and Winterreise with Hutchinson at Arizona State University.
The 2020-2021 season brought his company debut at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Neil Armstrong in the World Premiere of Steve Mackey’s Moon Tea, and as the Adjudicator in the World Premiere of Damien Sneed’s The Tongue and the Lash. He can be seen in the June 2020 issue of Opera News, where he was the magazine’s Soundbite. A student of Darrell Babidge, Jarrett splits his time between Frankfurt and New York.