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Biography
Peter Volpe is professor of music in voice at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Praised for his “stentorian and robust bass” by The New York Times, American bass Volpe continually receives critical and popular acclaim across four continents for his powerful command and rich texture of his timbre. Possessing a vast and ever-expanding repertoire of over 90 roles in six languages in a career spanning more than 35 years, his captivating style and interpretive skill embrace the depth of every historical and fictional character he embodies. Of his recent portrayal of Prince Gremin in Eugene Onegin, Opera News applauded his ability “to create in his single aria and scene an impressive dignity. His full-bodied bass and great candor of tone, together with his intelligent interpretation, won him a well-deserved ovation.”
Volpe has graced the stages of many of the great opera houses throughout the United States and abroad. He made his memorable Metropolitan Opera debut in Prokofiev’s War and Peace and subsequently returned for 13 seasons with the company. Other prominent opera houses he has performed in include Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Washington National Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Oper Stuttgart, Vancouver Opera, Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Philadelphia, New York City Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Florentine Opera, Atlanta Opera, Pittsburgh Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Spoleto Festival USA, Palm Beach Opera, Portland Opera, and Michigan Opera Theatre. He has also performed in the opera houses of Montreal, Ottawa, Edmonton, Tokyo, Kyoto, Shanghai, Beijing, Prague, Colmar, Imola, Strasbourg, Karlsruhe, and Dusseldorf.
Volpe has performed with some of the most celebrated conductors of his time, including James Levine, Seiji Ozawa, Valery Gergiev, Sir John Pritchard, Maurizio Arena, Marco Armilliato, Marcello Viotti, Jacques Lacombe, Jonathan Darlington, Semyon Bychkov, Joseph Rescigno, Vincent La Selva, Richard Buckley, Leon Botstein, and Richard Hickox, among others.
Notable roles for Volpe include the title role in Don Giovanni, King Philip II in Don Carlo, Méphistophélès in Faust, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, Sparafucile in Rigoletto, Daland in Der fliegende Holländer, Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd, Ramfis in Aïda, Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette, Timur in Turandot, Ferrando in Il trovatore, and Basilio in The Barber of Seville.