Craig Smith, baritone

Smith's dignified performance was complemented by clarity of diction and an evenness of vocal production, while his powerful projection made him the centre of attention during many scenes. The way he conveyed Michonnet's tender devotion to Adriana was also poignantly done

(Adriana Lecouvreur, Feb 2009, The Music Criticism) 

video:

Verdi: Dio di Giuda! ... O prodi miei, seguitemi (Nabucco) also on Youtube

Verdi: Di Provenza … No, non udrai rimproveri (La Traviata) also on Youtube NEW 8/08

Offenbach: Scintille diamant (Les contes d’Hoffmann) also on Youtube NEW 7/08

audio:

Verdi: Cortigiani! (Rigoletto)

Leoncavallo: Si puo! (Pagliacci)

Martin: In Terra Pax

Craig Smith was born in Bolton / England and educated at Manchester University, where he gained his Chemistry degree. He taught Chemistry for almost ten years whilst singing as an amateur and then he retrained at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester as a postgraduate student. Whilst there he sang the roles of Sharpless (Madama Butterfly), Pandolphe (Massenet’s Cendrillon) and Linole (Tchaikovsky’s Orleanska deva). 1993 his professional operatic debut took place as Lord Cecil in Jonathan Miller’s production of Maria Stuarda for the Buxton Festival.

In 1994 he entered the Zurich International Opera Studio and the following year the ensemble of the opera, where he sang many smaller roles (such as Moralès in Carmen) opposite singers like Plácido Domingo, José Carreras, Agnes Baltsa, Simon Estes, Leo Nucci, Hermann Prey and Alfredo Kraus. In 1996 he sang his first big Verdi role as Nabucco at the Hersfeld Festival in Germany.

Since then he has sung roles such as Scarpia (Tosca), Rigoletto, Ford (Falstaff), Escamillo (Carmen), Musiklehrer (Ariadne auf Naxos), Michele (Il tabarro), Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Germont (La Traviata), Tonio (Pagliacci), Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte) for companies as varied as English National Opera, Scottish Opera, Opera North, Opera Project, Holland Park Opera, Garden Opera and English Touring Opera for whom he has done a run of 30 performances of Scarpia. Other recent engagements include Don Alfonso (Così fan tutte) for Garden Opera, Rigoletto for the Longborough Festival Opera as well as a concert performance of Rigoletto in London.

Engagements of the season 2007/08 included his role debut as Alfio in Cavalleria rusticana as well as Tonio in Pagliacci for Lakeland Opera / England, Nabucco at the State Opera Bucharest, as well as Germont in La Traviata for the St Margarethen Festival and an opera gala with German, French, Belcanto and Verdi arias with the Koblenz Philharmonic Orchestra in Wiesbaden.

In September and October 2008 he gave his Japan debut as Rigoletto in Tokyo and 8 other cities, and in May 2009 he will be singing Spencer Coyle in a new production by Nicola Raab of Benjamin Britten’s Owen Wingrave in Vienna.

In February 2009 he sang Michonnet in a concert performance of Cilea’s Adriana Lecouvreur alongside Nelly Miricioiu and Rosalind Plowright, conducted by Andrew Greenwood at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

In August and September 2009 he will be adding the role of Amonasro in Aida to his repertoire within an open air production in front at several castles in Belgium (in Liège, Namur, La Hulpe, Bruges and Château d’Ooidonk)

In October 2009 he will be singing the demon roles (Lindorf, Coppélius, Miracle and Dapertutto) for the first time for a new production by Robert Herzl of Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann in Baden in the critical edition of Michael Kay.

On the concert platform Craig Smith has an extensive repertoire including Carmina Burana, Mendelsohn’s Elijah, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius and Händel’s Messiah. He has worked frequently with important British Orchestras such as the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.

February 2009

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