baritone
Franco Pomponi’s European debut was in the title role of Hamlet at the Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona. He has continued to win critical praise for his portrayal of Hamlet, most recently in 2010 at Opéra de Marseille. In 2010, he made other impressive debuts in the title role of Don Giovanni for The Bolshoi Opera in Moscow and Zurga (Les Pecheurs de Perles) at Opernhaus Zürich. He made his Carnegie Hall debut as the Baritone Soloist in Mahler’s Eighth Symphony with Christoph Eschenbach and the Philadelphia Orchestra, performing the same role in Paris with the Orchestre de Paris. He sang the role of Nick Shadow (The Rake’s Progress) at Palermo’s Teatro Massimo, Ford (Falstaff) with the Santa Fe Opera and The Canadian Opera Company, and Hérode (Massenet: Herodiade) with Dorset Opera. Other new productions include the title role in Don Giovanni for Opéra Nationale, Montpellier (broadcast on Radio France), Golaud (Pelléas et Mélisande) for the Nationale Reisopera, Count Di Luna (Il trovatore) for Austin Lyric Opera, the title role in Cyrano de Bergerac with Placido Domingo at Théâtre du Châtelet and Guglielmo in David McVicar’s celebrated production of Cosi Fan Tutte for L’Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg. The Metropolitan Opera heard him as Schaunard in La Boheme, Count Dominik in Arabella with Renée Fleming and Presto in Les Mamelles de Tiresias conducted by James Levine. At The Lyric Opera of Chicago, he was heard as Malatesta in Don Pasquale, as well as Germont in La traviata for the Grant Park Music Festival. He has also sung Escamillo in Carmen for the New York City Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Dorset Opera, Toulon Opera, PORTopera Theatre, Florida Grand Opera, Qatar Philharmonic, and United Arab Emerites. Pomponi's recent engagements include Nixon (Nixon in China) at the San Diego Opera, Nick Shadow at the Metropolitan Opera, the title role of Sweeney Todd at Théatre du Chatelet in Paris, Gessler (Rossini: Guillame Tell) at the Grand-Théatre de Geneve.
