Appearing regularly on the international stage, American bass Steven Humes continues to perform leading roles including König Marke, König Heinrich, Vodník, Hunding, Fafner, Fasolt, Daland, Sarastro, Ramfis, Oroveso, Wurm, Gremin, Commendatore, Biterolf, Lodovico, Pistola, Alaska-Wolf Joe, Truffaldin, Eremit and Titurel among many others.

He continues to appear with many of the world’s most important theaters including The Bayerische Staatsoper, Teatro Real in Madrid, Théatre des Champs Elysées, Opera di Roma, Opéra Monte Carlo, Hamburg Staatsoper, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, The Bolshoi, the Salzburg Festival, Luxembourg’s Les Théâtres de la Ville, Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan and Beijing’s NCPA. Mr. Humes has also been heard throughout the United States in theaters including Los Angeles Opera, Atlanta Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Boston Lyric Opera, Chicago Opera Theater and Chicago’s Ravinia Festival.

Steven Humes showed his diversity again in the last seasons. He sang König Karl in Fierrabras in Brussels, a tour in France of Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher (Joan of Arc at the Stake) with Marion Cotillard as Joan, Commendatore in Don Giovanni in Boston and a revival of Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher at Avery Fisher in New York. Further highlights included Fafner in Siegfried at the at Le Grand Théâtre de Genève, Fafner in Das Rheingold in Monte Carlo, a complete RING revival at Le Grand Théâtre de Genève and a St. Matthew Passion with the ‘Beethoven Orchester’ in Bonn Germany. Steven was also heard as Commendatore in Don Giovanni with the Théatre des Champs Elysées, Daland in Der Fliegende Holländer in Torino and Cadmus/Somnus in Semele at the Canadian Opera Company in Toronto. Further engagements led him as König Marke in Tristan und Isolde in Paris under the baton of Daniele Gatti and as Landgraf Hermann in Tannhäuser at Opéra de Monte Carlo, König Heinrich in Lohengrin in St. Gallen and König Marke at Teatro Regio in Torino under the baton of Gianandrea Noseda, Daland in The Flying Dutchman in Zürich, König Ludwig VI in Euryanthe in Dresden (in concert version) as well as Waterghost in Rusalka at Teatro Real Madrid. In January, 2016, Mr. Humes returned to a familiar role as König Heinrich in Lohengrin at the Royal Danish Opera in Kopenhagen, conducted by Alexander Vedernikov. Also in the 2015-16 season Mr. Humes was performing Fafner in a concert version of Rheingold in Odense, Denmark, Banco in Macbeth in St. Gallen, Switzerland and Beethoven 9 concerts throughout Europe.

One of his many DVD recordings is the highly acclaimed double-grammy winning Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny recorded with the Los Angeles opera in 2007. Opera News hailed “Humes was a stentorian Alaska-Wolf Joe”. He recorded the role for DVD again in 2010 with a Fura dels Baus production at Madrid’s Teatro Real. Other recordings of note include grammy nominated La Traviata with Ivor Bolton conducting, Idomeneo (DVD) in Munich’s Cuvilliés-Theatre with Kent Nagano conducting, Alice in Wonderland (DVD) named Best World Premier 2007 by OpernWelt magazine, and both Lucrezia Borgia (DVD) and Roberto Deveraux (DVD) with Edita Gruberova.

Sought after as a concert soloist, Mr. Humes has performed with numerous symphonies including the New York Philharmonic, the Atlanta Symphony, the Beethoven Orchester of Bonn, Germany, and regularly performs with the Rundfunk and Philharmonie orchestras of Munich. He has performed in many celebrated concert venues including the Vatican, Carnegie Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and his repertoire includes Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, the Mozart Requiem, Dvořák’s Stabat Mater, the Verdi Requiem and Bach’s St. Matthew’s Passion.

Mr. Humes received his musical education at New England Conservatory and Boston University and was a season member of the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich, Germany for eight years.

April 2020 – For the most recent biography please contact Florian Schadhauser