Brahms Requiem: Will Liverman, Baritone

Baritone Will Liverman, portrait by Banner Photo

Called “a voice for this historic moment” (Washington Post), GRAMMY Award-winning baritone Will Liverman is the recipient of the 2022 Beverly Sills Artist Award by The Metropolitan Opera and the co-creator of The Factotum – called “mic-drop fabulous good” (Opera News) – which premiered at the Lyric Opera Chicago in 2023. Described as “a gifted chameleon of a singing actor who disappears into his roles” (Opera) with a “beaming, high baritone that easily asserts” (LA Times), Liverman has been hailed by critics for his versatility in dramatic and comedic roles, as well as on concert stages in North America and internationally, and his dedication and vision as a composer, artist, and advisor helping to evolve and push the performing arts industry forward.

Following summer 2024 appearances at the BBC Proms in Britten’s War Requiem, Sibelius’s The Origin of Fire and Scriabin’s Prometheus, Poem of Fire led by Andris Nelsons at Tanglewood, and Aspen Music Festival’s Opera Benefit, Liverman reprises the iconic role of Papageno in the Metropolitan Opera’s holiday presentation of The Magic Flute, returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago as Marcello in La Bohème, and joins Dutch National Opera for another season, this time as Ned Keene in Peter Grimes. He makes his house debut during the 2024/2025 season at San Francisco Opera also portraying Marcello in Puccini’s La bohème.

Concert engagements include Kaija Saariaho’s Sombre at Carnegie Hall with the International Contemporary Ensemble; Carmina Burana with the San Francisco Symphony; London Symphony Orchestra led by Sir Antonio Pappano; works by Burleigh, Vaughan Williams, and Still at The Concertgebouw; works by Schubert, Burleigh, and Larsen with the Oxford International Song Festival; Brahms’ Requiem with the Rhode Island Philharmonic; Shawn Okpebholo’s Two Black Churches and Orff’s Carmina Burana with Oakland Symphony; a song cycle of his own compositions at National Sawdust; New York Festival of Song at Kaufman Music Center; and String Theory at the Hunter.

Last season, Liverman starred in the title role of X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X at the Metropolitan Opera (“the best I’ve ever heard him”, Wall Street Journal). Anthony Davis’ groundbreaking and influential work marked the third opera by a Black composer in the company’s history, and was conducted by Kazem Abdullah in its newly revised score. In a “breakout performance” (The New York Times) opening the Met’s 2021/2022 season, Liverman headlined the widely celebrated Fire Shut Up In My Bones by Terence Blanchard, which won the 2023 GRAMMY Award for Best Opera Recording. He later reprised the role of Charles at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in a “rich leading performance” (Chicago Tribune) described as a “beautifully vocalized [...] gripping portrayal” (Opera News).

In the 2023/2024 season, Liverman performed in the world premiere of Rene Orth’s 10 Days in a Madhouse at Opera Philadelphia (“mellifluous baritone and grounded stage presence”, Parterre Box) and took on the role of Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette at the Met Opera (he “lit up his scenes with a richly textured, mettlesome baritone”, The New York Times). In concert, he joined the Lexington Philharmonic, Houston Symphony, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, The Washington Chorus, Tanglewood, Grand Rapids Choir of Men and Boys, Nu Deco Ensemble, Experiential Orchestra, and Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, plus Dayton Opera, Caramoor, Cincinnati Song Initiative, and Ithaca College for vocal recitals. He served as Artistic Advisor for Renée Fleming’s SongStudio at Carnegie Hall.

Lyric Opera of Chicago presented the world premiere of Liverman’s new opera, The Factotum, in 2023, which he starred in and composed with DJ King Rico. Inspired by Rossini’s Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Liverman and Rico place the story in a present-day Black barbershop on Chicago’s South Side, celebrating the strength of community and power of the human spirit in a soul opera that “offers a chameleonic pastiche of soul, funk, and classical elements that is incredibly effective” (Opera News). Houston Grand Opera, Portland Opera, and Washington National Opera are all slated to put on The Factotum in future seasons.