American baritone Rod Gilfry is a two-time Grammy Award nominee, singer and actor who has performed in all of the world’s music capitals. His most recent Grammy Award nomination was for his performance in the title role of Messiaen’s monumental opera Saint François d’Assise in Amsterdam. Best known as an opera singer, he is also an acclaimed recitalist and concert artist and appears frequently in musical theater classics. His discography of 28 audio and video recordings includes the DVD and CD of his one-man show My Heart is So Full of You. His radio program, Opera Notes on Air, aired on K-Mozart 105.1 FM in Los Angeles for over three years.
With over 80 roles in his repertoire, Gilfry sings music from the Baroque to that composed expressly for him. He was brought to worldwide attention when he created the role of Stanley Kowalski in the 1998 premiere of André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire at the San Francisco Opera, opposite Renée Fleming. Other world premieres include Nicholas in Deborah Drattell’s Nicholas and Alexandra (Los Angeles, opposite Plácido Domingo); Nathan in Nicholas Maw’s Sophie’s Choice (London, Washington D.C.); Jack London in Libby Larsen’s Every Man Jack (Sonoma, CA); Edward Gaines in Richard Danielpour’s Margaret Garner (Detroit, Cincinnati, Philadelphia); the title role in Marc-André Dalbavie’s Gesualdo (Zurich); and Master Chen in Christian Jost’s Rote Laterne (Zurich). Recently, he originated the role of Walt Whitman in Matthew Aucoin’s Crossing in Boston, Los Angeles and San Diego; the Father in Aucoin’s Eurydice with Los Angeles Opera; Alfred Stieglitz in Kevin Puts’ The Brightness of Light, opposite Renée Fleming; Claudius in Brett Dean’s Hamlet with the Met, Bayerische Staatsoper, Glyndebourne Festival and Adelaide Festival; Mr. Potter in Jake Heggie’s It’s a Wonderful Life in Houston and San Francisco; and David Lang’s the loser in New York City and Los Angeles.
In the 2024–25 season, Rod Gilfry performs Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte with James Conlon at LA Opera and additional dates of Kevin Puts’ The Brightness of Light with Renée Fleming with the New York Philharmonic, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Toledo Symphony and Lyric Opera of Kansas City.
Gilfry devoted an entire season to the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, starring as Emile de Becque in the U.S. National Tour of the Lincoln Center production of South Pacific, a production that garnered seven Tony Awards. He also appeared as Captain von Trapp with the Théâtre du Châtelet in The Sound of Music, with his daughter, Carin Gilfry, in the role of his character’s daughter, Liesl.
A lifelong Californian, Gilfry resides in Rancho Cucamonga with his wife, Tina. rodgilfry.com