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The American bass-baritone, Christian Van Horn, began his music studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, where he obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree and began his studies with his one and only voice teacher, Richard Cross. He then obtained his Master's degree in Voice/Opera from Yale University School of Music in New Haven, Connecticut. He spent his summers during graduate school performing as a young artist with the Central City Opera and Opera Theater of St. Louis. He then went on to continue his training as a member of the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s The Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center. In 2003, he was Winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Finals Winner, and was awarded the Sarah Tucker Grant.
Christian Van Horn made his operatic debut in 2004 with the Florida Grand Opera as Lu Duc in Charles Gounod's Romeo et Juliette and made his international debut at the Salzburg Festival in 2008 in the same role conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In late 2008 he became an ensemble member with the Bayerische Staatsoper accumulating over 100 performances in two seasons there, in roles including Oroveso in Norma and Colline in La bohème. He returned to the USA in 2010 and went on to sing with some of the most prestigious opera companies in the world including The Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Paris Opera, Teatro dell'Opera di Roma, Dutch National Opera, Stuttgart Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève, Santa Fe Opera, Los Angeles Opera, the opera festival of Bayerische Staatsoper and the Salzburg Festival.
Christian Van Horn's operatic roles include the title roles in Mefistofele and Le nozze di Figaro, Mephistopheles in Faust, Claggart in Billy Budd, the Four Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffmann, Escamillo in Carmen, Enrico in Anna Bolena, Colline in La bohème, Alidoro in La Cenerentola, Timur in Turandot, Banquo in Macbeth, Narbal in Les Troyens, Zoroastro in Orlando, Oroveso in Norma, Zaccaria in Nabucco, Publio in La Clemenza di Tito, Gessler in Guillaume Tell, and Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette. He also appeared in the world premieres of Tan Dun’s Tea: A Mirror of the Soul at the Santa Fe Opera and Marco Tutino’s Two Women at the San Francisco Opera, and in the American premiere of Thomas Adés’ The Exterminating Angel at the Metropolitan Opera. Specialising in the "bad guys", he sang Mephistopheles in C. Gounod’s Faust with the Lyric Opera of Chicago (2018) and the Paris Opera (2021) and also singing the 4 Villains in Les Contes d'Hoffman with the San Francisco Opera (2013), Los Angeles Opera (2017), Bayerische Staatsoper (2015). In 2018 he sang the title role in Arrigo Boito’s Mefistofele with the Metropolitan Opera being one of only 8 singers to have ever done so.
Christian Van Horn has sung over 100 performances at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera and the Bayerische Staatsoper each. He has been represented by Opus 3 Artists for his entire career. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2013 performing the role of Pistola in Verdi’s Falstaff conducted by James Levine. Also at the Metropolitan Opera he has appeared as Colline in Puccini’s La bohème (2014, 2015, 2017, 2018, 2020), The Sprecher in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflote (conducted by James Levine, 2017), the American debut of Thomas Adès’ The Exterminating Angel in the role of Julio (2017), Publio in W.A. Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito (2019), and the Doktor in Alban Berg's Wozzeck (conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin, 2020). Future engagements at the Met include the title role in W.A. Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro (2022) and Nick Shadow in Igor Stravinsky's The Rake’s Progress.
In concert, Christian Van Horn has been a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (L.v. Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, 2012), Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Tippet’s A Child of our Time, 2006), New York Philharmonic Orchestra (Wagner’s Das Rheingold, 2017), Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Creon in I. Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex, 2020), Berliner Philharmoniker (Georges Bizet's Carmen conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, 2012), Cleveland Orchestra (Haydn’s The Creation conducted by Franz Welser-Most, 2018), The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra (L.v. Beethoven's Missa Solemnis conducted by Sir Andrew Davis, 2016) among many others. He has also appeared with San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and at the Mostly Mozart Festival, Bard Music Festival, and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa.
In 2021, Christian Van Horn appeared in the Lyric Opera of Chicago special concert of excerpts from Atilla and returned to the Paris Opera as Mephistopheles in Faust. In 2022 he makes his role debut as the title role in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni at the Paris Opera, and returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago as Banquo in Macbeth, and to the Metropolitan Opera as the title role in W.A. Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro and as Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress. He also stars in the Washington National Opera’s Come Home: A Celebration of Return, a special concert celebrating the opera company’s return to the Kennedy Center following it closure due to the pandemic.
Christian Van Horn recorded the title role of Le Nozze di Figaro for Sony Classical. He also appeared in the Metropolitan Opera’s HD broadcasts of Falstaff and The Exterminating Angel. His bi-weekly podcast, “The CVH Podcast”, is heard in over 50 different countries to over 1,000 cities worldwide and follows his travels and performances through monologues and discussions with colleagues and friends. In 2008, he was awared the Richard Tucker Award. He resides in Virginia with his wife and son. |
