Andrew Funk, Bass
Possessing “a fresh, firm tone and good stage presence” (L’Opera, Milan), bass Andrew Funk is generating excitement in opera houses and concerts halls throughout the country. With a large and varied repertoire , Mr. Funk has performed music from the Baroque, to the classics of Beethoven, Berlioz, Mozart, Puccini, Verdi and Wagner, to works of contemporary composers.
In 2004, Andrew Funk made his debut with the Los Angeles Opera in a John Cox and David Hockney production of Die Frau ohne Schatten under the musical direction of Kent Nagano. Later that year, Mr. Funk sang the role of Don Pedro with The Santa Fe Opera in Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict.
Andrew Funk is frequently engaged by the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He made his Lyric Opera debut in the world premiere of the opera Amistad, and has since appeared there in productions of La Gioconda,Roméo et Juliette, and Tosca. During the 2004-05 season, Mr. Funk returns to the Lyric Opera of Chicago to sing performances of Aida, and will make his debut with Anchorage Opera in Don Giovanni. Also ahead for him in 2005 are covers of Fafner and Hagen for the Seattle Opera’s Ring Cycle.
In the contemporary repertoire, Mr. Funk was chosen by Philip Glass and the Tony Award winning director Mary Zimmerman to sing the world premiere performances of Glass’ opera Galileo Galilei in both Chicago and New York. For this opera, Andrew Funk portrayed four characters–Pope Urban VIII, Cardinal Barberini, Simplicio and the Father of Merope–and received acclaim from the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times.
Andrew Funk’s appearances have included the Sarasota Opera in the French version of Il Trovatore, Le Trouvère, where critics described his performance of Fernand as “reverberant” and “sonorous.” He also sang Plutone in the Chicago Opera Theater’s production of Orfeo, which toured to New York’s Brooklyn Academy of Music. Previously with Chicago Opera Theater, he sang the title role in Britten’s Noye’s Fludde. Mr. Funk has performed numerous major bass roles, including Rocco in Fidelio, Don Basilio in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, and Colline in La Bohème. Besides the companies already mentioned, Andrew Funk has sung with the Boston Lyric Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Virginia Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera.
In addition to his opera engagements, Mr. Funk is a frequent orchestral soloist. He has sung Berlioz with Maestro Zubin Mehta and Deborah Voigt with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at Carnegie Hall, Messiah with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, and performances of Kurt Weill’s Seven Deadly Sins at the Aspen Music Festival.
Mr. Funk is a graduate of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s prestigious Center for American Artists, and he has participated in distinguished training programs at the Juilliard School, Music Academy of the West, the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, and the Santa Fe Opera. Andrew Funk received his Bachelor’s degree from the University of California in Los Angeles and completed his Master’s degree at The Juilliard School in New York.
# # #