Rod Gilfry performs at the forefront of contemporary opera

Baritone Rod Gilfry, a member of the USC Thornton Vocal Arts & Opera faculty, has emerged as a champion of contemporary opera in recent years. In September, Gilfry premiered the leading role in David Lang’s one-act opera, The Loser, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Next Wave Festival, earning rave reviews for his “masterful, mesmerizing performance.”

Rod Gilfry as Walt Whitman in the Shubert Theater’s 2015 production of Crossing by Matthew Aucoin. (Photo by Gretjen Helene/A.R.T.)

In May of 2018, Gilfry will reprise his leading role as Walt Whitman in Matthew Aucoin’s opera, Crossing, which premiered at Boston’s Shubert Theater in 2015. The New York Times noted that Gilfry brought “sturdy expressivity and quiet charisma” to the role, which is based on Whitman’s experiences with wounded soldiers during the Civil War. LA Opera will bring Crossing to the Los Angeles stage in a performance at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills.

This summer, Gilfry will originate the role of Claudius in the world premiere of Brett Dean’s Hamlet at the 2017 Glyndebourne Festival in England.