Charles H. Eaton
Hailed as a “swaggeringly charismatic baritone with a versatile voice,” American baritone Charles H. Eaton joins the renowned Filene Artist program at Wolf Trap Opera for the 2024 summer season, making his company and role debut as Ponchel in Silent Night and Brother in Seven Deadly Sins. He also returns to the prestigious Isaac Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall in June as baritone soloist in the Duruflé Requiem. His 2024/2025 season will begin with another role debut as Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette as a principal artist with Minnesota Opera. He then makes his role and company debut as Silvio in Pagliacci with Pensacola Opera in the spring of 2025.
Currently in his second season as a resident artist with Minnesota Opera, Charles recently received great acclaim for his performance as Sam in Trouble in Tahiti, praised for his “beautiful, deep voice,” and for being “astonishingly chameleonic.” He rounds out the season as Schaunard in La bohème, and covered Belcore in L’elisir d’amore. In the season previous, Mr. Eaton’s highlight performances with the company included Argante in Rinaldo and Masetto in Don Giovanni. Additionally, he made his Schubert Club recital debut performing Jocelyn Hagen’s love. songs, his Carnegie Hall debut as the baritone soloist in the Fauré Requiem, and received third place in the Houston Saengerbund Competition.
In the 2021-2022 season, Charles made his recital debut with The Musicians of Ma’alwyck (featuring Finzi’s By footpath and stile performed with string quartet). He covered the role of Mr. Lindquist in A Little Night Music at Arizona Opera, and returned to Minnesota Opera to perform Moralès in their brand new production of Carmen directed by Denyce Graves. In 2021, he won third prize in the prestigious Lotte Lenya Competition.
In the 2019-2020 season, Mr. Eaton made his role and company debut as Marcello in La Bohème with the Imperial Symphony Orchestra (Lakeland Opera). He also made a company debut as the English Ambassador in The Ghosts of Versailles with the Château de Versailles Spectacles. In the previous season, he made role and company debuts as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with New York City Opera in Bryant Park, William Dale in Silent Night with Minnesota Opera, and Vitellius in Hérodiade with New Amsterdam Opera. He returned to Madison Opera as Carl-Magnus in their A Little Night Music, and to Minnesota Opera to create the roles of Arnold Rothstein and George Gorman in the world premiere of Joel Puckett’s The Fix. He also returned to The Glimmerglass Festival for the 2019 summer season to perform Steve / Max in Show Boat and cover Figaro in The Ghosts of Versailles.
In the 2017-2018 season, Mr. Eaton made multiple company debuts, including German Sentry/Soldier #3 in Silent Night with The Glimmerglass Festival as a member of the young artist program, Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance with Park Square Theater, and Moralès in Carmen with Madison Opera. He also made his concert debut with The Mankato Symphony Orchestra as Riff inWest Side Story.
In May of 2017, Charles completed a second year as a resident artist with Opera Colorado, where he performed Figaro in the touring production of The Barber of Seville, Bello in La fanciulla del West and Enrico in the student matinee of Lucia di Lammermoor. He returned to Des Moines Metro Opera in 2017 for a second summer as an apprentice artist, where he sang Mr. Lindquist and covered Carl-Magnus in A Little Night Music..
Charles received his Bachelor of Music in 2013 from the University of Connecticut where he sang Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Thomas Putnam in The Crucible and more. He received his Master of Music from the University of Minnesota where credits included Conte Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, the Forrester in The Cunning Little Vixen and Masetto in Don Giovanni. In his second year of studies, he was a participant of the ECCO Program, which facilitated hours of coaching and exchange between promising young artists in the School of Music and the music staff at Minnesota Opera.
Mr. Eaton was a semi-finalist in the 2023 James Toland Vocal Competition , a third-prize winner in the 2023 Houston Saengerbund Competition, a third–prize winner of the 2021 Lotte Lenya Competition, a finalist in the 2021 Opera Ithaca Edward M. Murray Vocal Competition, a semi-finalist in the 2020 Premiere Opera Foundation / NYIOP International Voice Competition, a second place winner of the 2019 American Prize Competition, and a district winner of the 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Competition.
