Lester Lynch, Baritone

American Baritone, Lester Lynch, winner of the 2000 George London Foundation and 1996 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions was heard last season with the New York City Opera as Crown in Porgy and Bess and Count Di Luna in Il Trovatore with Dusseldorf Opera am Rhein and Dayton Opera.  He also appeared with Houston Grand Opera as Giorgio Germont in La Traviata, Marcello in La Boheme with Cincinnati Opera, Thunder of Horses with Washington Opera, and with Opera Columbus as Nat Turner in the premiere of Vanqui.  This performance was described as "The most impressive male voice who created the opera's single most vivid moment" (Columbus Dispatch).   In his performance in Mendelssohn's Elijah with the Columbia Pro Cantare in October, 2001, Mr. Lynch was cited by the Baltimore Sun as "a definitive Elijah, entering the role with an empathetic spirit as well as a glorious voice."

Mr. Lynch's numerous prizes include first place in the 1999 D'Angelo Young Artists Competition, finalist in the 1999 Placido Domingo Operallia, and second place in the 1996 National MacAllister Competition.  Mr. Lynch was recently heard singing Medelssohn's Die Erste Walpurgisnacht at the Grant Park Festival. 

Last season he performed with the New York Metropolitan Opera in Carmen, with the Chicago Lyric Opera in the roles of Tonio and Alfio in new productions of I Cavelleria Rusticana and I Pagliacci, then as the High Priest in Samson and Deliah.  Other operatic roles last season included the Conte de Luna with the Madison Opera, Don Fernando in Fidelio with the Cincinnati Philharmonic, Amonasro in Aida with the Dayton Opera, and Renato in Un Ballo in Maschera with the Michigan Opera Theater.  Mr. Lynch sang in Carmina Burana at Carnegie Hall in March, 2003 with the New York Oratorio Society, and the Mahler 8th Symphony with the Detroit Symphony.