Bass Zachary James

ROLES PREPARED AND/OR PERFORMED
Abraham Lincoln – The Perfect American
Alidoro – La Cenerentola
Amenhotep III – Akhnaten
Antonio – Le nozze di Figaro
Banquo – Macbeth
Bartolo – Le nozze di Figaro
Bluebeard – Bluebeard's Castle
Cervantes – Man of La Mancha
Il Commendatore – Don Giovanni
John Claggart – Billy Budd
Les 4 Diables – Les contes d'Hoffmann
Don Pasquale – Don Pasquale
Don Quixote – Man of La Mancha
Fafner – Das Rheingold
Frank Maurrant – Street Scene
Funeral Employee – The Perfect American
The Immigration Officer – Flight
Judge Turpin – Sweeney Todd
Kuharka – The Love for Three Oranges
Lucius/Witch – Edward Tulane
The Mikado – The Mikado
Olin Blitch – Susannah
Osmin – Die Entführung aus dem Serail
The Pirate King – The Pirates of Penzance
Pooh-Bah – The Mikado
Sarastro – Die Zauberflöte
Sciarrone – Tosca
The Scribe – Akhnaten
Somnus – Semele
Sparafucile – Rigoletto
Sweeney Todd – Sweeney Todd
Terry – Breaking the Waves
Vodník – Rusalka
Wozzeck – Doktor
Zaccaria – Nabucco
ROLES IN PREPARATION
Nick Shadow – The Rake's Progress
Mefistofele (Title Role)
Mephistopheles – Faust
Scarpia – Tosca
Wotan – Wagner's Ring Cycle

Zachary James is an international opera singer and recording artist, Broadway & TV actor, 2022 GRAMMY Award winner, BroadwayWorld Vocalist of the Decade, Classical Post’s Most Innovative Artist, Verismo Magazine’s Breakout Artist of the Year and among Opera Wire’s 30 Most Influential LGBTQ+ Artists.

Acknowledged as “a true stage animal” (Opera News), Mr. James is known for his “huge, robust bass” which “resonates with force” (Bach Track), “tremendous power and presence” (The Arts Desk, London). Opera News has also referred to his instrument as “intrinsically beautiful”, a “cavernous bass” with “oomph and range”.

Recent highlights and upcoming season engagements include the Immigration Officer in Flight with Dallas Opera, the title role in Sweeney Todd with Opera Omaha, a return to Akhnaten with The Metropolitan Opera, The Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance with Cincinnati Opera, Lucius/Witch in the World Premiere of Paola Prestini’s Edward Tulane with Minnesota Opera, and Sciarrone in Tosca with LA Opera.

Mr. James created the role of Lurch in The Addams Family musical on Broadway, the role of Abraham Lincoln in the world premiere of Philip Glass’s opera The Perfect American at the Teatro Real in Madrid (a role he reprised for London’s English National Opera and Australia’s Opera Queensland), Oberon in the world premiere of Kristin Hevner’s Il Sogno at the Teatro Citta della Pieve in Umbria and the role of Terry in the world premiere of Breaking The Waves at Opera Philadelphia. A winner of the Lotte Lenya Competition, Zach has also been engaged by The Metropolitan OperaLA OperaOpera OmahaMinnesota OperaDallas OperaOpera PhiladelphiaOpera SaratogaOn Site OperaVirginia OperaNashville OperaDes Moines Metro OperaArizona OperaFort Worth OperaOpera RoanaokeFlorentine OperaOpera IthacaShreveport OperaAnchorage OperaUnion Avenue OperaSchlossoper Haldenstein, Switzerland, Central City OperaAsh Lawn Opera and Knoxville OperaPhoenicia International Festival of The VoicePrototype Festival NYCMetropolis Opera ProjectChutzpah FestivalAmerican Lyric Theatre and Illuminarts Miami.

Mr. James’s orchestral concert engagements include performances with The Philadelphia OrchestraNHK Symphony Orchestra TokyoThe New York PhilharmonicNYC BalletAmerican Symphony OrchestraSymphony of the MountainsMasterVoices NYCSouthern New Jersey SymphonyCape Cod Symphony and Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. He has also performed cabaret acts throughout the United States including at Carnegie HallBirdlandDon’t Tell MamaMedicine ShowJoe’s PubGorilla TangoNoce Jazz Club and dozens of other venues around the United States. 

His visual album debut, Call Out (audio available on all major streaming platforms, film exclusively on YouTube), has received accolades at twenty-seven film festivals worldwide and was highly commended by London’s Classical Music Digital Awards. The groundbreaking work, featuring all female composers from the classical music industry, has been widely praised as “the direction that opera needs to go” (Opera Box Score), “protean”, “astonishing” and “jaw-dropping” (Parterre Box) and “a combo of rollicking fun and self-revealing moments. It’s a well-planned, lovingly curated, and brilliantly executed mash-up that’s exciting and intelligent…Trust me, it’s all worth watching.” (Opera Wire). His solo show, On Broadway, has played around the United States and was released as an album in 2021 on all streaming platforms.

As a stage actor, Zach originated in three Broadway shows including creating the role of Lurch in the Original Broadway Cast of The Addams Family, Thomas Hassinger in the Tony Award-winning Original Broadway Revival Cast of South Pacific at Lincoln Center, and made his Broadway debut in the 2007 National Theatre of London Broadway transfer, Coram Boy. Zach played Off-Broadway as Pasquale in The Most Happy Fella and Jo-Jo in Irma la Douce, both with Encores! at New York City Center. On screen, Zach has appeared on HBO’s Succession, on the sitcoms 30 Rock and Murphy Brown, on the 2010 Tony Awards live from Radio City Music HallPBS Great PerformancesLive from Lincoln Centerthe Late Show with David LettermanThe Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and more.