Brian James Myer

Brian James Myer

Baritone

Puerto-Rican American baritone Brian James Myer has earned accolades for his “richly detailed characterization” (Opera Today) and “delightfully resonant” sound (Broadway World). This season, he joined Brooklyn Art Song Society for a recital featuring selected sacred songs from Hugo Wolf’s Spanisches Liederbuch, and sings Youssef Biblolo in Llantos 1492 with Opera Southwest and title role in Don Giovanni with the Cleveland Institute of Music. Recent roles include the leading role of Rey in Before Night Falls with Opera Southwest, and a featured soloist at the 25th Anniversary Gala with Opera Las Vegas.

Known for delivering hefty “panache” in many of opera’s favorite baritone roles (Broadway World), Mr. Myer tackled another Figaro with his performances at Tri-Cities Opera last season. He has sung fourteen performances as the title role in Il barbiere di Siviglia: in his debut with Opera Delaware and Opera Baltimore, in a bi-lingual version of the opera with Atlanta Opera, and as a resident artist with Opera San José and Florida Grand Opera. He has also sung Fiorello and Berta in a new production of Il barbiere di Siviglia with Opera Orlando. Regarding his performance with Opera San José, James Sohre from Opera Today wrote, “I cannot recall encountering anyone in my many years of seeing this piece who rendered this better… He had a total command of the role, the style, the joyous abandon.” Neither a stranger to Dancaïre in Carmen, he has performed the role with over half a dozen companies: Atlanta Opera, Grand Teton Music Festival, Hawaii Opera Theatre, Opera Las Vegas, and he has debuted the role with five different companies: El Paso Opera, Tri-Cities Opera, Opera Orlando, Opera Theatre Oregon, and Opera Naples. He has performed as Schaunard in La bohème, Papageno in Die Zauberflöte with Opera Orlando, Norwalk Symphony Orchestra, Opera Naples and Opera San José, Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus at the Bar Harbor Music Festival, Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with Tri-Cities Opera and Syracuse Opera, Second Nazarene in Salome with Symphony Orchestra, and Dandini in La Cenerentola with Opera Las Vegas. Other roles include Masetto in Don Giovanni, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, Morales in Carmen, Schaunard in La bohème, Yamadori in Madama Butterfly, Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus, Second Priest in Die Zauberflöte, Angelotti in Tosca, Maximilian in Candide, Snowboy in West Side Story, and the cover of Mr. Peachum in Threepenny Opera.

New works include several collaborations with New York City Opera including Alberto in the workshop and world premiere of The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (Gordon/Korie). For Alberto, Theatre Criticism writes: “Myer possesses an impressive baritone which is beautifully melded with Gordon’s more sumptuous passages.” He exhibited “vocal depth” (The Wall Street Journal) as Young Erich in Ted Rosenthal’s jazz opera, Dear Erich; and as Carlos in the world premiere of Bless Me, Ultima (Heggie/Scheer) with Opera Southwest. Mr. Myer has also performed the role of Manfred in Three Decembers (Heggie/Scheer) with Intermountain Opera Bozeman. He joined the roster of The Metropolitan Opera as the cover of “Marcellus/Tybalt/House Painter/Journalist/Hamlet, and Young Marcellus” in the American premiere of Hamlet (Dean). He is also a proud member of AGMA’s Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access (IDEA) Committee, and has headlined multiple fundraisers including “Songs of Unity,” which raised funds for NYC’s women’s shelters: Cinderella, Songs for Shelter. He also performed in Fifty Years of Pride with NYC’s Where We Are series.

In high demand as a recitalist, this past season Mr. Myer presented Wolf’s Mörike lieder with the Brooklyn Art Song Society and joined Opera Delaware (NYC) representing both Afro-Latinx and LGBTQ+ musical voices. He has performed for the Cincinnati Song Initiative, Vocal Arts DC, and Source Song Festival. Last season, he was Festival Soloist with the Bar Harbor Music Festival. He has been recognized by Mark Campbell and American Lyric Theater as a “Top 100 Librettist Favorite” for his work on the new opera These Unliberated Lives, and was selected as one of the “30 Must-See LGBTQ+ Artists at the Fringe” by The Advocate. He has also received the Nevada Opera Association’s Encouragement Award. He is a published composer, and has performed his art songs in benefit of The Barbara Lee Foundation, and with Opera Orlando’s Opera Everlasting, a concert series focused on mental health awareness. He made his debut with The Phoenix Symphony singing excerpts from West Side Story and Candide under the baton of Tito Muñoz.

Mr. Myer is the recipient of two encouragement awards from Chautauqua Opera, first place prizes in the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) competitions in both Ohio and southern Nevada, and the Ben Deivis Spanish Scholarship from the Singers Club of Cleveland. Mr. Myer was engaged as a Resident Artist with Opera San José, Florida Grand Opera, and Chautauqua Opera, and has participated in outreach programs with the Palm Springs Opera Guild. Mr. Myer holds Bachelor’s degrees in Music and Germanic Languages and Literatures from University of Nevada Las Vegas and a Master’s degree in Vocal Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music.