Lauded by The New York Times as a “terrific singer” with a “deep, rich timbre,” Sidney Outlaw is an “opera powerhouse” who has delighted audiences in the U.S. and abroad with his “weighty and forthright” sound (San Francisco Chronicle) since 2010 when he exploded onto the international scene after winning Grand Prize at the Concurso Internacional de Canto Montserrat Caballe.
This season, Mr. Outlaw will sing Marcello in La bohème with Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette with Toledo Opera, and the title role in Don Giovanni with Boston Baroque, and he will appear in concert with Opera Memphis, American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Jacksonville Symphony, the Oratorio Society of New York, and Nashville Symphony. In recent seasons, Mr. Outlaw sang Schaunard in La bohème with Greensboro Opera, Dizzy Gillespie in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird with New Orleans Opera, Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Omaha, Salieri in Mozart and Salieri with Opera San Jose, Jake in Porgy and Bess with Greensboro Opera, and Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Pensacola Opera and Opera Saratoga. He made his San Francisco Opera début as the First Mate in Billy Budd, he sang Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony, and Tommy McIntyre in Fellow Travelers with Madison Opera. He also made his début with Boston Baroque in Handel’s Messiah, returned to Oratorio Society New York in Bach’s B Minor Mass, and joined Youngstown Symphony Orchestra for Mahler’s Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen.
In previous seasons, Mr. Outlaw sang Dizzy Gillespie in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird with both Atlanta Opera and Arizona Opera, returned to the Baltimore Symphony as a soloist in Handel’s Messiah and Minnesota Opera for the world premiere of The Fix, sang Fauré’s Requiem at Augustana College, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem at Cornell University, and made his début with Mill City Summer Opera as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte.
Mr. Outlaw has been a featured recitalist with Warren Jones at Carnegie Hall and performed Elijah with the New York Choral Society. He traveled to Guinea as an Arts Envoy with the U.S. State Department, where he performed a program of American music in honor of Black History Month and in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King. Originally from Brevard, NC, Mr. Outlaw is a graduate of the Merola Opera Program and the Gerdine Young Artist Program at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Mr. Outlaw won 2nd Prize in the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation’s International Competition, 2nd Prize in the Gerda Lissner Foundation Awards, and the Grand Prize in the Florida Grand Opera/YPO Vocal Competition. He was a National Semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions and a finalist for the George London Awards. He has a GRAMMY nomination for the Naxos Records recording of Darius Milhaud’s 1922 opera trilogy, L’Orestie d’Eschyle, and Lament, his début solo album recorded live with Warren Jones, was released by Emitha LLC in 2021.