BIOGRAPHY

Baritone David Kravitz has been widely praised for the “power, character” and “resonance and fluency” of his singing (Boston Globe; Opera News), his “brilliantly natural” acting and “perfect comic timing” (Boston Globe; St. Louis Post-Dispatch), his “eloquent” and “superb” diction (Boston Phoenix; Boston Herald), and his “drop-dead musicianship” (Boston Globe) on both the operatic and the concert stages. Mr. Kravitz performed last season under the baton of James Levine in the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s production of Berlioz's Les Troyens, and he joined the roster of New York City Opera in the 2005-06 season, responsible for the leading role of Olivier in Strauss’s Capriccio. Recent opera roles include Ko-Ko in The Mikado with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, the title role in Wozzeck with the New England Philharmonic, Leporello and the title role in Don Giovanni, Figaro in The Barber of Seville, Count Almaviva in The Marriage of Figaro, Papageno in The Magic Flute, Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte, Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress, and Captain Corcoran in HMS Pinafore. This season he makes his debut with Glimmerglass Opera in La traviata and The Consul, he returns to Opera Boston for Weber's Der Freischütz, and he performs the world premieres of short operas by Andy Vores and Theo Loevendie with Boston Musica Viva.

Mr. Kravitz is increasingly in demand as a concert artist. This year he makes his Philadelphia Orchestra debut, singing the bass arias in Handel's Messiah under Julian Wachner; last season he garnered rave reviews for his work in Bach's St. Matthew Passion with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Bernard Haitink. Other recent concert performances include Handel’s Messiah in both Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall, his “sensational” Boston Symphony Hall debut with Grant Llewellyn and the Handel & Haydn Society as Apollo in Handel’s Apollo e Dafne, and solo appearances with the Boston Symphony Orchestra under Seiji Ozawa, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s under Roger Norrington, Boston Baroque under Martin Pearlman, the Cantata Singers under David Hoose, and Emmanuel Music’s renowned Bach Cantata Series under the late Craig Smith. Also this season, Mr. Kravitz returns to Emmanuel Music for his ninth performance of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, to Boston Baroque for Bach's Magnificat at the Casals Festival in Puerto Rico, and to the Cantata Singers for Britten's Cantata misericordium.

Mr. Kravitz’s commitment to new music has led to his presentation of world or regional premieres of numerous contemporary works, including Edward Cohen’s opera The Bridal Night and Andy Vores’ song cycle Goback Goback with Collage New Music (the latter was named one of the best classical performances of 2003 by the Boston Phoenix); John Harbison’s Four Psalms with Cantata Singers (released on CD by New World); Tod Machover’s Resurrection with Boston Lyric Opera; James Primosch’s Songs and Dances from “The Tempest” and Thomas Whitman’s opera The Black Swan with Philadelphia’s Orchestra 2001; and George Rochberg’s Sacred Song of Reconciliation with Boston Modern Orchestra Project. Mr. Kravitz is also active as a recording artist and, in addition to Harbison’s Four Psalms, can be heard on Koch International Classics’ recordings of Bach’s Cantata BWV 20 and St. John Passion (1725 version) with Emmanuel Music, and on New World’s recording of Peter Child’s Estrella with Cantata Singers.

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