Christopher Feigum

BIOGRAPHY

Christopher Feigum has been praised for his dynamic stage presence and elegant musicianship with America’s leading opera companies and orchestras. Critic John von Rhein in the Chicago Tribune praised his “mellifluously sung, elegantly acted Figaro . . . the quality of his voice and singing is matched by his amiably confident platform manner.” This role served as the vehicle for his San Francisco Opera debut in a John Copley production under the baton of Roy Goodman; he also has sung the role with Opera Colorado, St. Louis Opera Theater, Houston Grand Opera and Tulsa Opera.


Mr. Feigum’s recent work includes a return to the Metropolitan Opera as Gamekeeper in Rusulka with Maestro Sir Mark Elder and a special guest performance of the Fauré Requiem at Carnegie Hall as part of the bicentennial celebration of SUNY Potsdam.


He has been seen as First Officer in John Adam’s controversial work The Death of Klinghoffer at the Metropolitan Opera, Brander with the Cleveland Orchestra in La Damnation de Faust with Maestro Charles Dutoit and performances of Strauss’ Daphne as the First Shepard with Maestro Franz Welser-Möst in Cleveland. Additionally, Mr. Feigum made his debut with the Lincoln Center Festival in New York to reprise the role of First Shepard in Daphne with Maestro Welser-Möst and the Cleveland Orchestra.


During the 2012/13 season, Mr. Feigum returned to the Metropolitan Opera as Sebastian for the critically acclaimed performances of Thomas Adès’ The Tempest (available on Deutsche Gramaphon DVD), for which Mr. Feigum won a Grammy® Award (Best Opera Recording 2013). The performances were broadcast in cinemas in over 100 countries, as part of the Metropolitan Opera's "Live in HD" broadcasts.


Mr. Feigum's 2011/12 season included a successful last minute Metropolitan Opera debut, replacing an ailing colleague, as Baron Prus in Janacek's The Makropulos Case, which also served as his Metropolitan Opera International radio broadcast debut. He made his Tanglewood debut with the Boston Symphony Orchestra as Brander in La Damnation de Faust with Maestro Charles Dutoit. Other highlights included a return to Kentucky Opera as Danilo in their production of Merry Widow, Brahms Requiem for his Kansas City Symphony debut and Tulsa Opera to portray Joey in Frank Loesser's The Most Happy Fella.


Mr. Feigum’s 2010/11 season began with his role and house debuts at the New York City Opera as Young Sam in Leonard Bernstein’s A Quiet Place, to great critical acclaim. He also made his role debut with Tulsa Opera in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni.


During the 2009/10 season, he joined the roster of the Metropolitan opera, covering the role of Kovalyov in the premiere of Dmitri Shostakovich’s The Nose. He reprised the role of Figaro in John Corigliano’s Ghosts of Versailles at the Wexford Festival Opera in Ireland and made his house debut as Escamillo in Carmen at Utah Opera.

Image Courtesy D. Rest

In the 2008/09 season, Mr. Feigum returned to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to sing the roles of Lescaut in David McVicar’s production of Manon and Silvio in Pagliacci. He also appeared as Dr. Falke in Dallas Opera’s production of Die Fledermaus, Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles with the Seattle Opera, Belcore in L’Elisir D’Amore with Tulsa Opera, Figaro in John Corigliano’s Ghosts of Versailles with the Opera Theater of St. Louis and in concert with the Cleveland Orchestra under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor.


Mr. Feigum’s previous work includes Dr. Malatesta in Don Pasquale conducted by Stephen Lord with Opera Colorado, Lescaut in Puccini’s Manon Lescaut directed by Olivier Tambosi and conducted by Bruno Bartoletti, and as Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette, all at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He debuted at Seattle Opera as Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, performed Alidoro in La Cenerentola for Dallas Opera and Kentucky Opera and made his role debut as Marcello in La Bohème with Kentucky Opera.


Mr. Feigum made debuts with the New York Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and Atlanta Symphony as Brander in La Damnation de Faust with Maestro Charles Dutoit. He debuted with the Cleveland Symphony as the Game Keeper and Huntsman in Rusalka with Maestro Franz Welser-Möst and with Los Angeles Opera as Reinmar in Tannhäuser with Maestro James Conlon conducting. He also performed with Maestro Marin Alsop in Brahms’ Requiem with the Colorado Symphony.


He has performed Haly in L’Italiana in Algeri, Police Sergeant in The Pirates of Penzance and Guglielmo in Cosí fan tutte at Santa Fe Opera; Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Colorado, Opera Pacific, Madison Opera and Lyric Opera of Chicago; Schaunard in La Bohème with Tulsa Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago and Houston Grand Opera; Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus with Sarasota Opera; Capulet in Roméo et Juliette with Madison Opera and Surin in Pique Dame with Dallas Opera. Concert appearances have included performances of Handel’s Messiah with the San Diego Symphony, Phoenix Symphony and Colorado Symphony, solo works with the San Francisco Symphony in The Best Time of the Year, Lucky to be me with the New York City Opera and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the Madison Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed with Washington Opera, Eugene Symphony and Chicago Opera Theater.

Image Courtesy D. Rest

Christopher Feigum is an alumnus of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. Among other roles with the company, he has performed Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance, the Bosun in David McVicar’s production of Billy Budd conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, Montano in Sir Peter Hall’s production of Otello and Carl Olsen in Street Scene. He also sang the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte, Surin in Pique Dame, Angelotti in Tosca and covered the role of J. Robert Oppenheimer in Doctor Atomic.


As an alumnus of the Houston Grand Opera Studio, Mr. Feigum performed Zuniga in Carmen, the Speaker in Die Zauberflöte, Luther and Crespel in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Bonze in Madama Butterfly, First Soldier in Atom Egoyan’s Salome and Lt. Ratcliffe in Billy Budd. He created the roles of Gideon March and Dashwood in the World Premier of Mark Adamo’s Little Women, sang the role of Plutone in Orfeo in an HGO collaboration with Canada’s Opera Atelier, Count Lamoral in Renée Fleming’s first Arabella, the Doctor in La Traviata and covered Sam Ramey in Mephistofele.


Mr. Feigum made his professional debut at age 22 as Pfleger in Elektra with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Chicago and at Carnegie Hall conducted by Daniel Barenboim. He performed with the Grant Park Music Festival in Bartok’s Cantata Profana conducted by Carlos Kalmar, Bernstein’s Songfest with the Milwaukee Symphony and the Chicago Sinfonietta, Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes at the Ravinia Festival and Beethoven’s 9th Symphony with the Terre Haute Symphony.


During his career, Mr. Feigum has performed for over 30,000 school children in outreach programs across the country.


A graduate of DePaul University in Chicago, Christopher Feigum is the recipient of a Grammy® Award (Deutsche Grammophon/Thomas Adès/The Tempest/Best Opera Recording of 2013), Richard F. Gold Career Grant, Bel Canto Artist’s Grant, Santa Fe Opera Artist’s Grant, Stewart Awards Grant, Chicago Symphony Chorus Distinguished Service Award for his work with Margaret Hillis, and DePaul University’s “14 under 40” award.

Image Courtesy D. Rest

The quality of his voice and singing is matched by his amiably confident platform manner…a mellifluously sung, elegantly acted Figaro.

Chicago Tribune, John von Rhein