Matthew Arnold, baritone

Beginning his career as a bass, former 82nd Airborne Division paratrooper Matthew Arnold sang Escamillo in Carmen with Florida Grand Opera and Minnesota Opera, Alessio in La Sonnambula with Santa Fe Opera opposite Natalie Dessay, Lord Sidney in Il Viaggio a Reims with Chicago Opera Theater, Il Bonzo in Madame Butterfly with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Colline in La Boheme with Michigan Opera Theater and Dicapo Opera, Dr. Grenvil in La Traviata with Virginia Opera and Mephistopheles in Faust with Augusta Opera. A frequent guest of Fort Worth Opera, Mr. Arnold has appeared there as Zuniga in Carmen, Monterone in Rigoletto and Capulet in Roméo et Juliette. Mr. Arnold recently made his baritone debut in the roles of the Jailer, First Officer and Second Commissioner in Dialogues of the Carmelites with Austin Lyric Opera. Upcoming performances include Il Bonzo in Madame Butterfly with San Antonio Opera, the Verdi Requiem with the Brazos County Symphony, Monterone in Rigoletto with San Antonio Opera and a return to Austin Lyric Opera as Baron Douphol in La Traviata.

Mr. Arnold is a graduate of the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia, where his roles included Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro, Mephistopheles in Faust, King Rene in Iolanta, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Garrido in La Navarraise.

On the concert stage, Mr. Arnold appeared as the Bass Soloist for Kurt Weill’s The Seven Deadly Sins opposite Ute Lemper with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Bass Soloist in Bach’s Weinachts Oratorium and Magnificat, Händel’s Messiah, Raphael and Adam in Haydn’s Creation with the Ithaca Chorale and the Bass Soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with Musicae Amandi and the Ithaca College
Choir.

Mr. Arnold was a grant winner from the 2006 Lee Schaenen Foundation, a 2004 Encouragement Award winner from the Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, a finalist in the 2003 Loren Zachary Foundation Competition for Young Singers, a 2003 finalist in the Marion Anderson Competition and a 2003 Regional Finalist of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.