Bass-baritone Matthew Burns is celebrated for his musical and comedic capabilities in equal measure. Opera News recently singled out the “vocal and comedic flexibility” in his acclaimed Leporello in Don Giovanni at Detroit Opera. Most recently he appeared as Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro with both Portland Opera and Utah Opera and returned to The Metropolitan Opera for the reprisal of their production of The Hours. Other recent highlights
include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Delaware Symphony, Sergeant of Police in The Pirates of Penzance with Nashville Opera, and Sulpice in La fille du régiment with Utah
Opera. In the 2024–2025 season, Matt sang the title role in Don Pasquale with the Napa Valley Festival and will debut with Opera Colorado as Colline in La bohème.
Burns recently made his Seattle Opera debut as Sacristan in Tosca for which the Seattle Times celebrated his “dignified bass-baritone, in counterpoint to his less-than-holy behavior,” which “provides much-needed comic relief.” Additional recent highlights include the title role in Don Pasquale at Inland Northwest Opera, Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola with Annapolis Opera, Suplice in La fille du regiment with Opera Carolina, Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore with Virginia Opera, Dansker in Billy Budd with Central City Opera and covering roles in Rigoletto and Die Zauberflöte at the Metropolitan Opera.
A master-interpreter of comedic roles, Burns is highly sought after as Leporello in Don Giovanni, which he has performed with Detroit Opera, Utah Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Austin Lyric Opera, Opera Memphis, Opera Cleveland, and Opera Omaha. He is also well known for his performances of Doctor Bartolo (Pensacola Opera, Opera Roanoke, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Virginia Opera, Opera Omaha, Orlando Philharmonic) and Don Basilio (Dayton Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Sarasota Opera), both in Il barbiere di
Siviglia, and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro (Virginia Opera, Opera Grand Rapids).
Frequently reengaged by companies around the country, Burns is often seen with Opera Theatre of St. Louis (Rambaldo in La rondine, Otec in Smetana’s The Kiss, Pish-Tush in The Mikado, Lord Gualtiero Valton in I puritani, and Titta in Martín y Soler’s Una cosa rara), Palm Beach Opera (Alidoro in La Cenerentola, Angelotti in Tosca), Virginia Opera (Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Poet in Glass’ Orphée andPallante in Agrippina), Utah Opera (George in Of Mice and Men, Don Alonso in Così fan tutte, and Leporello
in Don Giovanni), and Opera Southwest (Don Geronio in Il turco in Italia, the title role in Gianni Schicchi, and Taddeo in L’italiana in Algeri). Other opera roles include Dr. Primus in Usher House and Sir Simon the ghost in The Canterville Ghost (Los Angeles Opera; Center for Contemporary Opera), Dr. Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro (Michigan Opera Theatre), Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor (Dayton Opera), Sparafucile in Rigoletto (Crested Butte Music Festival), Kuno in Der Freischütz (Macau International Music Festival), Falstaff in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Fargo Moorehead Opera), Don Giovanni (Arizona Opera), Papageno in Die Zauberflöte (Opera Coeur d’Alene), Collatinus in The Rape of Lucretia (Toledo Opera), Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance (Kentucky Opera), as well as roles in La bohème: Colline with Boston Lyric Opera and Opera Birmingham and Schaunard with New Orleans Opera. Burns made his début with New York City Opera as Masetto in Don Giovanni, and subsequently returned to the company as Agrippa in Antony and Cleopatra, Colline in La bohème, Zuniga in Carmen, Angelotti in Tosca, and Junius in The Rape of
Lucretia. In addition, as a member of the Juilliard Opera Center, he performed Blitch in Susannah and created the villainous role of William de Champeaux in Stephen Paulus and Frank Corsaro’s Heloise and Abelard.
A sought-after concert artist, Burns’s orchestral engagements include his Carnegie Hall début singing Händel’s Messiah, which he has performed across the country, Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the Atlanta Symphony, Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with the Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Mobile Symphony, Albany Symphony Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Walton’s Belshazzar’s Feast with the New Choral Society, Grandpa Moss in The Tender Land with the Charleston Symphony, Bach’s B Minor Mass with the Pensacola Choral Society, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Haydn’s Missa in angustiis with New York’s New Choral Society, and Rossini’s Stabat Mater with the Dayton Philharmonic. Mr. Burns is a two-time recipient of the Richard F. Gold Career Grant for Singers. He is featured on the commercial recordings of Die Gezeichneten from Los Angeles Opera, the American Symphony Orchestra’s recording of Haggadah shel pesach, and Florentine Opera’s live recording of Carlisle Floyd’s Wuthering Heights.
