A Kansas native, young bass Scott Conner has been lauded by critics and audiences as a major talent on the rise. Mr. Conner’s warm, flexible voice and elegant stature brings proficiency in a wide range of repertoire, including Mozart, Rossini, Handel, Donizetti and Verdi.
Mr. Conner’s 2019-2020 season begins with Opera Philadelphia, where he performs the role of The King in The Love for Three Oranges. He then returns to the Metropolitan Opera singing the Police Commissioner in Der Rosenkavalier and covering Colline in La bohème. During the summer of 2020, he returns to Santa Fe Opera as Basilio in their production of Il barbiere di Siviglia.
Last season, Mr. Conner returned to the Metropolitan Opera, singing Pinellino in Gianni Schicchi and covering Bello in La fanciulla del West. He made his house debut with San Diego Opera, singing Escamillo in Carmen, and with Opera de Dijon as Jupiter/Vulcano in La finta pazza. He also appeared as a Judge in the American Premiere of Korngold’s Das Wunder der Heliane at the Bard Summerscape, and joined the Spoleto Festival USA as the First Soldier and First Nazarene in Salome.
During the 2017-2018 season, he sang Nerbulone in Eliogabalo with Dutch National Opera, Sparafucile in Rigoletto with both Semperoper Dresden and Portland Opera, Angelotti in Tosca for his debut with Palm Beach Opera, joined the roster of the Lyric Opera of Chicago to cover Mephistopheles in Faust, and returned to Santa Fe Opera to sing Mustafa in L’italiana in Algeri.
During the 2016-2017 season Scott Conner made significant company debuts at the Opéra National de Paris as Nerbulone in Eliogabalo, and at both Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Metropolitan Opera as the Police Commissioner in Der Rosenkavalier. He also returned to San Francisco Opera as Colline in La bohème.
During the 2015-2016 season Mr. Conner returned to Zürich Opera for Don Profondo in a new production of Il Viaggio a Reims, as well as Zoroastro in Orlando under the baton of William Christie. He also joined the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, singing Tom in Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera, conducted by Zubin Mehta, as well as the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence for a recital featuring works by Rossini.
In the 2014-2015 season, Scott Conner made his debut with Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam as Bernardino in Benvenuto Cellini, and also debuted with San Francisco Opera as Tom in Un ballo in maschera. Additionally, he appeared with the company as Angelotti in Tosca and as Colline in the family performances of La bohème, and covered Alidoro in La Cenerentola. He closed the season in a return to Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, singing Theseus in Robert Carsen’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
During the 2013-2014 season, Scott Conner’s engagements included: Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor with L’Opéra de Lille; the roles of Colline, Nourabad, and un Frate with the Zürich Opera; Glyndebourne Festival Opera for Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin, the Police Commissioner in Der Rosenkavalier, covered the title role in Don Giovanni, and a live performance of Der Rosenkavalier with the BBC Proms at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London.
Scott Conner joined the Ensemble of the Semperoper Dresden in 2012-2013, where roles included Colline in La Boheme, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Masetto in Don Giovanni and Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia. He was also seen as the Bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. During the summer of 2013, he debuted at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in Cavalli’s Elena. Additionally Scott was the recipient of a 2012 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, and the 1st Prize Award in the 2012 Gerda Lissner Vocal Competition and the 2012 Loren L. Zachary Vocal Competition.
Scott Conner is a 2012 graduate of Philadelphia’s Academy of Vocal Arts. There, he performed the title role in Don Giovanni, Colline in La bohème, La Roche in Capriccio, Oroveso in Norma, and First Man in the world premiere of Scarlet Letter. During the 2011-2012 season, his assignments at the Academy included the Four Villains in Les contes d’Hoffmann, the title role in Verdi’s Oberto, and Dulcamara in L’elsir d’amore. He also sang the Mozart Requiem with Symphony in C, conducted by Rossen Milanov.
The early years of his career have seen Mr. Conner perform the title role in Le nozze di Figaro with Nashville Opera and Columbus Opera, the Commendatore and Masetto in Don Giovanni with Opera Cleveland, Alidoro in La cenerentola with Opera New Jersey, and Curio in Giulio Cesare with Lyric Opera of Kansas City.
Scott Conner attended the University of Missouri, Kansas City for his Bachelor of Music degree, where roles included Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, the Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance, and the title role in The Mikado.