Philip Skinner

Bass-baritone Philip Skinner has proven himself a highly versatile artist both dramatically and vocally. He has had great success singing roles ranging from the standard bass repertoire such as King Philip in Don Carlo, to Jocanaan in Salome and Escamillo in Carmen in the helden and dramatic baritone repertoire.

In San Francisco Opera’s 2007-08 season, he performed the role of Edgar Ray Killen in the world premiere of Philip Glass’s Appomattox, as well as the Speaker in Die Zauberflute and Rambaldo in La Rondine. He spent the 2009 summer covering the Rheingold and Walkure Wotans and the Wanderer in Siegfried for the Seattle Ring Cycle. Since then, he has performed Crespel and Luther in Les Conte D’Hoffman with Opera Colorado and Florida Grand Opera, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Festival Opera, the Doctor in Wozzeck with Ensemble Parallele, the Duke in Romeo et Juliette with San Diego Opera, covered La Roche in Capriccio, Wotan in Das Rheingold and Die Walkure and Dansker in Billy Budd at the Metropolitan Opera, and he sang the Speaker with Seattle Opera, and Scarpia in Tosca and Colline in La Boheme with the Livermore Valley Opera.

Highlights of other recent seasons include Ratcliffe in Billy Budd with Pittsburgh Opera, Abimilech in Samson with San Diego Opera, the First Soldier in Salome with the National Symphony Orchestra, La Roche in Capriccio and Zuniga in Carmen at New York City Opera, Thibaut in Joan of Arc in San Francisco, Olin Blitch in Susannah in Bergen, Norway, King Philip in Dijon, France, Escamillo with Seattle Opera, and Jocanaan with Atlanta Opera. Since 1995 he has been a regular guest with Opera de Nantes. He has sung Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Teatro di San Carlo in Naples, Basilio in Il Barbieri Di Siviglia with Washington National Opera and Minnesota Opera, and Ramfis in Aïda at the Hollywood Bowl.

His long association with San Francisco Opera began in 1985 and he has over 375 performances in 54 productions there including the Water Gnome in Rusalka, Mephistopheles in Faust, Escamillo, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, Colline in La Boheme, and Lorenzo in I Capuleti e I Montecchi. His international credits include appearances with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Victoria State Opera in Melbourne, Vancouver Opera, and Theatre de la Monnaie in Brussels. He also successfully performed with the Houston Grand Opera as well as appearances with the opera companies of Louisville, Toronto, Edmonton and Massy, France.

Equally prolific in the concert hall, Skinner has performed the Verdi Messa di Requiem at Carnegie Hall with the Masterworks Chorale and in Europe with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra. He sang Beethoven’s Ninth at the Hollywood Bowl and with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. Skinner sang the Beethoven Missa Solemnis with Kent Nagano and the Berkeley Symphony, the Lord Nelson Mass at the Spoleto Festival in Italy, and Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation and other concert pieces with the Dusseldorf Symphoniker, Minnesota Orchestra and San Jose Symphony, among others.

A Schwabacher Debut Recitalist and former Adler Fellow with San Francisco Opera, Skinner was also the recipient of a London/Sullivan grant. A graduate of Northwestern University, he received his master’s degree and the prestigious Performance Certificate from Indiana University.