GRAMMY Award®-winning bass-baritone Donovan Singletary's recent seasons include house debuts with Washington National Opera (as Count Capulet in Roméo et Juliette) and Pacific Opera Victoria (as Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro), a return to Opera Carolina for Samson et Dalila, and symphonic engagements including Mozart's Requiem with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra.
Other recent engagements include Singletary's debut with the Berlin Philharmonic, a return to English National Opera for It's A Wonderful Life, debuts as Crown in The Gershwins®’ Porgy and Bess with North Carolina Opera and Opera Carolina, a debut with Orchestra Iowa singing Verdi's Requiem, concerts in tribute to Jules Bledsoe, and three university residencies, presenting masterclasses and recitals.
After an historic and critically acclaimed opening to the Metropolitan Opera's 2021–2022 season, performing two lead roles in Terence Blanchard's Fire Shut Up in My Bones, Singletary enjoyed debuts with Glyndebourne and the BBC Proms. He also portrayed Antron McCray in Anthony Davis' tragic true-life story of The Central Park Five (winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Music) with Portland Opera.
Singletary returned to the Metropolitan Opera during the 2019–2020 season for the role of Jake in the company's GRAMMY Award®-winning, season opening production of The Gershwins®’ Porgy and Bess. Other engagements that season included the roles of Crown in Atlanta Opera’s The Gershwins®’ Porgy and Bess and Colline in Fort Worth Opera's La bohème, which was ultimately postponed due to the pandemic. Singletary also sang Jake in The Gershwins®’ Porgy and Bess in two productions co-produced by Dutch National Opera and English National Opera, as well as Crown in The Gershwins®’ Porgy and Bess with Grange Park Opera in London.
Highlights of the 2018–2019 season included performances of Philip Glass’ Passages with Pacific Symphony at Carnegie Hall and the role of Figaro in Minnesota Opera’s Le nozze di Figaro, and the 2017-2018 season included performances as Leporello in Don Giovanni with Nashville Opera and his debut at Teatro alla Scala as Jake in The Gershwins®’ Porgy and Bess.
Other recent seasons have included performances with the Metropolitan Opera in productions of Giulio Cesare, Un ballo in maschera, Macbeth, Gianni Schicchi, Don Carlo, Pelleas & Melisande, Tosca, La bohème, The Enchanted Island, The Tales of Hoffman, and The Bartered Bride. Singletary has performed with Seattle Opera as Zuniga in Carmen, Monterone in Rigoletto, and Jake in The Gershwins®’ Porgy and Bess, where he provided “a beautiful and powerful bass-baritone” (The SunBreak). He also portrayed the title role in Boito’s Mefistofele with Knoxville Opera, Achilla in Giulio Cesare, and Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Fort Worth Opera. For Figaro, he was praised for his “comic timing and strong vocal presence” (D Magazine).
On the concert stage, Singletary has appeared with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonic, the Latvian National Opera, the Orchestre Lamourez, and the Metropolitan Opera during their “Summer in the Parks” concert series. He also made his Carnegie Hall debut singing Mark Hayes’ Te Deum and returned soon thereafter to sing Fauré’s Requiem and Haydn’s Paukenmesse before being invited back to sing Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Mozart’s Solemn Vespers.
Singletary made his professional debut as Hermann in The Tales of Hoffman as a Gerdine Young Artist with Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and as Second Nazarene in Salome with The Metropolitan Opera. That season, he also sang concerts with the Marina del Rey Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Aspen Chamber Symphony.
Singletary has won numerous national and international awards, including Grand Prize in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Grand Finals, where he was the youngest male winner in that competition's history. Upon winning the competition, the company's then-General Director, Joseph Volpe, bestowed Singletary the esteemed Joseph Volpe Award.
