Will Liverman
Praised by the New York Times as “mellow-voiced and charismatic” and Opera News for his “noble sound and bearing,” baritone Will Liverman creates the role of Dizzy Gillespie in the world premiere of Schnyder’s Charlie Parker’s Yardbird and returns to the role of Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Madison Opera in the 2014-15 season. He also returns to the Civic Orchestra of Chicago for Mozart’s Mass in c minor. This current season also marks the final year in his tenure as a member of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, in which he sings a Servant in Capriccio while covering Olivier – and Frazier in Porgy and Bess in addition to joining the company for its production of Don Giovanni. Previously with the Lyric Opera of Chicago, he sang Figaro in special family performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia as well as Fiorello in the same opera, Marquis in La traviata, the Registrar in Madama Butterfly and Yvan in Die Fledermaus, Brühlmann in Werther, the Sargeant in La bohème as well as for its productions of Rusalka, Otello and Rigoletto. His additional performances presented by the company include scenes of La bohème and Le nozze di Figaro with Sir Andrew Davis conducting Civic Orchestra of Chicago.
He returned to the Civic Orchestra of Chicago as the Husband in Les mamelles de Tirésias and made his debut with Utah Opera as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia.The baritone’s recent concert performances include Orff’s Carmina burana and Handel’s Messiah as a guest artist at the University of Chicago. Other performances for the baritone include the Protestant Minister in Menotti’s The Last Savage as well as the cover of Schaunard in La bohème with Santa Fe Opera as an Apprentice Artist; and the Sacristan in Tosca and Mr. Jenks in The Tender Land while a Young Artist at the Glimmerglass Festival. He made his Alice Tully Hall debut with the New York Festival of Song, collaborating with Steven Blier on a program entitled “Road Trip.”
Mr. Liverman is a winner of one of the top awards presented by the William Matheus Sullivan Musical Foundation in the 2013-14 season, a 2013 Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, and was grand finalist of the 2012 Metropolitan Opera National Counctil auditions in which he sang “Batter my Heart” from Adams’ Doctor Atomic and Papageno’s suicide aria from Die Zauberflöte with Sir Andrew Davis conducting the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. He earned his Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, at which he sang the leading role of James Meredith in Peter Maxwell Davies’ opera, Kommilitonen!, under the direction of the work’s librettist, David Poutney. Also while at The Juilliard School, he sang Marco in Gianni Schicchi and Liberto in L’incoronazione di Poppea.
Additionally, he has garnered awards in other major competitions, including first prize in the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, the grand prize of the Bel Canto Foundation Competition, and an encouragement award from the George London Founfation. He is an unprecedented three-time first prizewinner of the Chicago National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition. He was also a second place regional winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in Chicago, a third place regional winner in New York, and won an Encouragement Award in the Opera Index competition. He also holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Wheaton College in Illinois.
