Canadian bass-baritone Daniel Okulitch first came to attention on Broadway as Schaunard in Baz Luhrmann's production of La Boheme in 2002-2003, a role he repeated when the production traveled to Los Angeles the following year, for which he received the Ovation Award for Best Ensemble Performance from the Los Angeles Stage Alliance.  He has since begun an international career with opera companies and orchestras throughout Europe and North America, and is lauded as much for his powerful stage presence and dramatic abilities as for his "focused, resonant bass-baritone that he wields with power and sensitivity" (NJ Star-Ledger). His signature roles show a dedication to both old and new works, including the title role in Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro, Joseph DeRocher in Dead Man Walking and Olin Blitch in Susannah. "Okulitch was a dynamic and effective stage presence; he almost stopped the show the first time he strode on stage and sang his opening notes (...) by far the most developed and projecting singer in the cast." ( NewJersey Star-Ledger).

Mr. Okulitch’s career continues to grow in the 2007-2008 season in which he makes his role debut at the Michigan Opera Theater in Detroit in the title role of Le nozze di Figaro,  as Colline in La boheme in Vancouver, the world premiere of David Dichiera’s Cyrano de Bergerac in Detroit, and sings the title role in the world premiere of The Fly at the Opéra du Châtelet in Paris in a co-production with the LA Opera, were he will reprise the role in the fall of 2008-2009.   Other future engagements include his debut at the Teatro alla Scala as Theseus in Britten’s A Midsummner Night’s Dream, the title role in Le nozze di Figaro for the Dallas Opera, Escamillo in Carmen in Detroit and Vancouver, Swallow in Peter Grimes for his debut at the Washington National Opera, and the title role of Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking in Ft. Worth.

Mr. Okulitch opened the 2006-2007 season in the title role of Don Giovanni for Opera Ontario, which he repeated for the Hawaii Opera Theater.  He was also heard in a gala concert with Manitoba Opera and performances as Inspector Gert Osterland in the world-premiere of Thomas Pasatieri’s opera Frau Margot at Fort Worth Opera.

Mr. Okulitch’s 2005-06 season began with Schaunard in La Boheme with Manitoba Opera, immediately followed by Schlemil in Les Contes d’Hoffmann at Dallas Opera, the critically acclaimed title role debut of Joseph De Rocher in Dead Man Walking at the Calgary Opera, Masetto with Vancouver Opera, and Blitch in Susannah with the Boheme Opera in New Jersey.   He closed the season with his long-awaited role debut as Don Giovanni at the French festival Lyrique-en-Mer.

Daniel Okulitch’s 2004-05 season began with his return to San Francisco Opera as The Bosun' in Billy Budd, followed by a recording of Chausson’s Le Roi Arthus with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London, and by the roles of Fredrich Baeher in Little Women at Fort Worth Opera, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night's Dream with Utah Opera, Masetto in Don Giovanni with Opera de Marseille, and Laski in Chabrier’s Le Roi Malgre Lui at Avery Fisher Hall with the American Symphony Orchestra.

Mr. Okulitch opened the 2003-04 season at San Francisco Opera as Donald Gallup in Virgil Thomson’s The Mother of Us All and sang a season opening Gala for the Connecticut Grand Opera alongside international opera diva Veronica Villaroel. For his Carnegie Hall debut in April of 2004, he performed Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, and was lauded for his performance of Lev Nikolaivich in the World Premiere of Guest from the Future by Mel Marvin at the Bard Festival this summer. 

Mr. Okulitch was a member of the San Francisco Opera Merola Program, also trained with the Cincinnati Opera as a Young Artist for two seasons, and apprenticed with the Des Moines Metro Opera. His recent professional operatic experience includes Masetto in Don Giovanni with Dayton Opera, Morales in Carmen and Benoit/Alcindoro in La Bohème with Calgary Opera and the Shepherd in Pelléas et Melisande and the Nazarene in Salome with Cincinnati Opera. In his young career, Mr. Okulitch has worked with many prominent conductors, including Eduardo Müller, Donald Runnicles, Tyrone Patterson, Steven Lord and Robert Shaw among them. Additional roles Mr. Okulitch has performed include Don Cassandro in Mozart’s La Finta Semplice, Junius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, Baron di Trombonok in Rossini’s Il Viaggio a Reims and Gendarme/Directeur in Poulenc’s Les Mamelles de Teresias. He has also sung Capulet in Roméo et Juliette, Bob in Menotti’s The Old Maid and the Thief, Top in The Tenderland and Starveling in Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Mr. Okulitch is the recipient of numerous awards and prizes, including the Singers Development Foundation, First Prize from the George London Foundation in 2004, The Sullivan Foundation 2004, 2nd Prize from the Licia Albanese/Puccini Foundation Competition, First Prize from the Joyce Dutka Arts Foundation in 2004, a Grant from the Singers Development Fund in 2003, 5th Prize in the Palm Beach Opera Vocal Competition in 2002, and was a Regional Finalist in the Metropolitan Opera Auditions in 2000&2001. He is a 2006 recipient of a Canada Council Grant for Professional Musicians and received the Andrew White Memorial Award and a Corbett Award while a student at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, where he received an Artist Diploma in Opera, after completing his BM and MM degrees in Voice and Opera respectively, from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music.

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