About Craig Hart

For more than a decade, bass Craig Hart has enjoyed singing on the operatic and concert stages of North America. His engagements have been with such companies as the Metropolitan Opera, L'Opera de Montreal, Palm Beach Opera, Cleveland Opera, Nashville Opera, Toledo Opera, Connecticut Opera, Shreveport Opera, Opera Idaho, Boston Bel Canto Opera, and Opera at Florham. His performances have consistently earned him the respect and accolades of discerning critics and many return engagements. This 6' 2" charismatic young bass has mastered more then 40 roles in his repertoire, among them King Phillip II of Spain, Mephistopheles, Don Giovanni, Count Walter, Colline, Sparafucile, Raimondo, Daland, Sarastro, Hunding and Collatinus.

Mr. Hart’s upcoming performances include Sarastro for the Portland Opera, and Don Basilio for PORT Opera. His most recent performances have included the title role in Don Giovanni with Opera Company of North Carolina, Timur in Turandot with Boheme Opera, and Simone in Connecticut Opera’s March 2006 production of Gianni Schicchi. In 2005-2006, Mr. Hart was heard in Verdi's Messa da Requiem with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra, Haydn’s Creation with the Gordon College Symphony Orchestra, in recital as a part of the Thompson Chamber Music Series in Wenham, Mass and for The Music Series at South Church, New Britain, CT.

In the spring 2005, some of Mr. Hart's appearances as soloist included the title role in Mendelssohn’s Elijah, for the Gordon College Orchestra, Vaughn Williams Dona Nobis Pacem with the Northwest Symphony Orchestra in Seattle, Washington and a solo recital on the Howard Music series of Andrew University. In April, Mr. Hart appeared in a concert of excerpts of the sacred opera I am the Way for Tele Saluto in Rome. This performance was broadcast the morning of and preceding the funeral of Pope John Paul II. This was Mr. Hart’s debut performance in the role of Christ. Jerome Hines chose Mr. Hart to succeed him in the role that was created and performed until that point exclusively by Mr. Hines. Also last season Mr. Hart was heard in the title role of Gianni Schicchi and in the role of the Reverend Olin Blitch in Carlyle Floyd's Susannah for the Hartt Opera Theatre.

A graduate of the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music, Craig Hart made his Metropolitan Opera stage debut in the production of Prokofiev's War and Peace as the Second Madman in the spring of 2002.

Here are some of what well-respected and discerning music/opera critics are saying about Craig Hart:

Bass Craig Hart is a suitably imposing and charismatic Don Juan…..with his large, dark bass sound and psychological approach to the music, Hart made a convincing case."
- Willa Conrad, N. J. Star Ledger

"Craig Hart…..captured one of the most complex characters in Opera. His imposing voice conveyed authoritarian power, but in his great aria…he showed the king's inner turmoil and regret."
- Lloyd Schwartz, Pulitzer Prize winning critic

"Bass Craig Hart sings the 'Count of Walter' with power and passion. He is the perfect suave villain, but with the voice of an angel."
- Venice Gondolier

"Like the late Jerome Hines, Craig Hart commands the stage by sheer power of his deep, melodious voice, imposing height, and intensity of his total character involvement."
- Derek de Cambra, Stage Director