SCOTT CONNER
Internationally acclaimed Kansas native, bass Scott Conner has been lauded by major critics and audiences as an extraordinary 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. Originally from Olathe Kansas, Mr. Conner has in recent years ascended into the international opera scene making significant debuts with the leading opera houses across North America, Europe and the United Kingdom.
Mr. Conner's upcoming 2021/2022 season includes a return to the Metropolitan Opera as Hans Schwarz in Wagner's Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, as well as a return to the Santa Fe Opera as Pistola in Verdi's Falstaff and will sing the bass solo in Beethoven's 9th Symphony and the Coronation of Boris Godunov with Kalamazoo Symphony. Scott also makes his debut with Des Moines Metro Opera as Jupiter in Plateé.
Mr. Conner's 2019/2020 season included returns to the Metropolitan Opera as the Police Commissioner in Der Rosenkavalier, his company debut with Opera Philadelphia in The Love for Three Oranges, concert debuts with the Houston Symphony as the bass soloist in Mendelssohn's Die Erste Walpurgisnacht and sang King Balthazar in Amahl and the Night Visitors with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City.
Mr. Conner returned to the Metropolitan Opera for his 2018/2019 season performing in Il Trittico (Gianni Schicchi) starring Placido Domingo and made his San Diego Opera debut as Escamillo in Carmen. Beginning January 2019 Scott returned to Dijon Opera singing the role of Jupiter and Vulcano in Francesco Sacrati’s La Finta Pazza. Scott reprised both roles in concert with the Cappella Mediterranea at Victoria Hall in Geneva. Scott also debuted at both the Spoletto Festival, Charleston in Salome as well as performing in Das Wunder der Heliane with the Bard Festival in New York.
The 2017/2018 season included his debut as Mustafa in L’Italiana in Algeri with Santa Fe Opera, a return to the Dresden Semperoper as Sparafucile in Rigoletto, and he reprised the roles of Nerbulone and Tiferne the Gladiator in Cavalli’s Egliogabalo with Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam. Scott also created the role of Peleo in a new production of the Spanish Baroque opera El Prometeo with Opera Dijon. The 2016/17 season marked two major debuts for Mr. Conner at the Metropolitan Opera and the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden where he performed the Police Commissioner in Robert Carsen’s new production of Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier along side superstar Renée Fleming. Mr. Conner also returned to the San Francisco Opera where he reprised the role of Colline in La Bohème.
Scott’s 2015/2016 season included his Paris National Opera debut in the famous Garnier Opera House as Nerbulone and Tiferne the Gladiator in Francesco Cavalli’s Eliogabalo as well as a new production at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich where he played the role of Count Horn in Verdi’s Un Ballo in Maschera conducted by the legendary Zubin Mehta. Scott has also frequented the Zurich Opera House in Switzerland as Colline in La Bohème under the baton of opera legend Nello Santi as well as Don Profondo in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims, Zoroastro in Handel’s Orlando, Nourabad in Bizet's Les Peucheurs de Perles, and Il Frate in Verdi’s Don Carlo.
Mr. Conner has also been seen on the prestigious San Francisco Opera stage as Colline in La Bohème, Angelotti in Tosca and Count Horn in Un Ballo in Maschera. In 2015 Scott made his Dutch National Opera debut as Bernardino in the French premiere of Benvenuto Cellini directed by award winning film director Terry Gilliam.
Other stage achievements include the role of Theseus in Britten’s A Mid Summer Night’s Dream at the Festival D’Aix en Provence, Sparafucile in Verdi’s Rigoletto at the Dresden Semperoper, and role debuts in Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin at the Glyndebourne Festival as well as his debut for the BBC Proms Broadcast of Der Rosenkavalier LIVE from Royal Albert Hall in London.
Scott Conner joined the Ensemble of the Semperoper Dresden during the 2012-2013 season, where he sang Colline in La Bohème, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Masetto in Don Giovanni, and Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia and the Sergeant and Commander in Manon Lescaut conducted by Maestro Christian Thielemann. Mr. Conner also made his debut at the Opera de Lille as Raimondo in Donizetti’s Lucia di Lammermoor. Scott finished the year by making his debut at Washington D.C.'s John F. Kennedy Center singing as the bass soloist in Handel's Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Conner holds a Bachelor’s of Music degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City (UMKC) Conservatory of Music. There Scott studied with soprano and voice professor Dr. Anne DeLaunay who was profound in teaching Scott his musical, lingual and vocal foundations. He also is a 2012 graduate of Philadelphia's Academy of Vocal Arts (AVA). Scott studied with voice teacher Bill Schuman and performed major roles such as the title role in Don Giovanni, Colline in La Bohème, La Roche in Capriccio, Oroveso in Norma, the Four Villains in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, title role in Verdi's Oberto, and Dulcamara in L'elsir d'amore. He is the recipient of a 2012 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Foundation, and First Prize winner of both the 2012 Gerda Lissner Foundation Competition and 2012 Loren L. Zachary Competition. Scott was also awarded the 2003 Top Prize for the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts (NFAA) vocal competition.
