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The American baritone, pianist, arranger, composer, and conductor, Henry Griffin, Henry has sung all of his life including solo boy soprano debuts with the the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at age 11, the Lyric Opera of Chicago at age 12, and solo voice and piano recitals starting at age 15. Andrew Patner of the Chicago Sun-Times described Henry as “one of the finest boy sopranos you’ll ever hear” following his performance of the Shepherd Boy solo in Puccini’s Tosca in 2011 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He obtained his Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Voice from Manhattan School of Music with the Hugh Ross Award (2018-2023). There, he studied with Marlena Malas and given annually to a “singer of unusual promise.” At the MSM he sang the role of Ottone in L’incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi with the MSM Undergraduate Opera Theater & Orchestra in May 2023 just before graduating. He has also received Conducting lessons with Dr. Ronnie Oliver & William Weinert (since 2022) and Piano lessons with Dongwon Shin & Dr. Jiayin Li (since 2006)
Henry Griffin was described as “luminous” and “supremely tender” by the Chautauqua Daily. He has been found singing the roles of Count Almaviva in W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro at the Prague Summer Nights young artist program at the Castleton Festival (2022), as well as The Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen (2022), Dr. Bartolo in Le Nozze di Figaro (2021), Toby in 110 in the Shade (2020), and Snug in Benjamin Britten's A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2019), all at the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory. In summer 2021, he also covered the role of the Commentator in Derrick Wang’s opera Scalia/Ginsburg as well as opera scenes with the Chautauqua Opera Company. At the Manhattan School of Music, he has performed in scene programs as the roles of Hamlet in Thomas’ Hamlet (2022), Judas in Massenet’s Marie-Magdalene (2022), and Frank in Kiss me Kate (2021). His 2021-2022 season brought numerous concert engagements including bass soloist in W.A. Mozart's Requiem, followed by that of Gabriel Fauré's Requiem just a few months later (both with the Manhattan School of Music Symphony Orchestra), as well as the role of Pilate in a staged production of J.S. Bach's Johannes-Passion BWV 245 with the Opera NextDoor at the Co-cathedral of St. Joseph in April 2022. In January 2023, he performed assorted art songs, including an original composition titled warm water flows, on a recital curated by Anthony Roth Costanzo, Myra Huang, and the Gerda-Lissner Foundation featuring young artists at the Greene Space NYC, aired on WQXR NYC.
In the fall of 2022, Henry Griffin would have made his Carnegie Hall solo debut on November, 30 2022 in Paul Moravec’s world premiere A Nation of Others with the Oratorio Society of New York led by Kent Tritle, but unfortunately tested positive for Covid-19 on the day of. After his aforementioned fellowship at the Mostly Modern Festival (June 2023), he was a young artist in the Opera and Song Programmes of the Verbier Academy’s Atelier Lyrique in Switzerland (July 2023). There, he performed the role of Keeper of the Madhouse in Igor Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress with the Verbier Festival Orchestra led by James Gaffigan. This year (2024), he looks forward to being a young artist at Opera on the James in Lynchburg, Virginia (February-March 2024) as well as being an emerging artist with a full ride to Opera in the Ozarks in Inspiration Point, Arizona. There, he will sing the roles of Germont in La Traviata and Reverend Hale in The Crucible, with orchestra.
In addition to singing, Henry Griffin is also a pianist, arranger, composer, and conductor. He has played piano since the age of 6 studying with Hannah Voigt and Jiayin Li, winning multiple awards in the CAMTA Sonata competition and earning a gold medal with his AIM high school graduation recital comprised of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Ravel’s Le tombeau de couperin. He more recently performed multiple recitals of four-hands piano repertoire, including a performance in June 2021 which aired live on WFMT Chicago as part of the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concert Series.
Henry Griffin is also a budding composer: in 2016 he won a gold medal at CAMTA’s young composer’s competition for his original composition Street Sanctus. More recently, he premiered his original song cycle, During the daylight warm water flows as part of his degree recital at the Manhattan School of Music in February 2023 with pianist Kanae Matsumoto. |
