Edward Parks

Baritone

Grammy Award-winning baritone Edward Parks is celebrated for bringing depth and immediacy to both new works and the core operatic repertoire, from creating the role of Steve Jobs to touring the world's biggest stages with Andrea Bocelli.

A native of Indiana, Pennsylvania, he holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory and Yale University.

Highlights

  • 2025–26

    • Returns to the Metropolitan Opera as Schaunard in La bohème

    • Featured baritone in the world premiere of Billy Corgan's A Night of Mellon Collie and Infinite Sadness with Lyric Opera of Chicago, alongside Corgan himself

    • Continues as featured baritone on Andrea Bocelli's Romanza – 30th Anniversary World Tour, with recent stops in Greensboro, NC and Hamilton, ON

    • Soloist in Orff's Carmina Burana with the Santa Fe Symphony

    2024–25

    • Houston Grand Opera debut as “Marcello” in La bohème

    • Returns to Detroit Opera as “Don Alfonso” in Yuval Sharon's staging of Così fan tutte

    • Eight concerts across the US as featured baritone with Andrea Bocelli

    2023–24

    • Creates “The Creature” in the world premiere of Gregg Kallor's Frankenstein with Arizona Opera

    • Tours the US and Canada with Bocelli, including two dates at Madison Square Garden

    • Gala concert with violinist Joshua Bell and the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields at The Soraya Performing Arts Center

    2022–23

    • Jack Torrance in The Shining (Paul Moravec) with Lyric Opera of Kansas City

    • Marcello in Yuval Sharon's staging of La bohème with Boston Lyric Opera

    • Seven-city US stadium tour with Andrea Bocelli

    2021–22

    • National tour with Andrea Bocelli, including Madison Square Garden and the Hollywood Bowl

    • Reprises Jack Torrance in the regional premiere of The Shining with Opera Colorado

    • Marcello in Yuval Sharon's staging of La bohème with Detroit Opera

    2019–21

    • Live performances were curtailed industry-wide by the COVID-19 pandemic; a planned reprisal of the title role in The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs with San Francisco Opera was cancelled amid the shutdown

    2018–19

    • Wins the Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording (61st Annual Grammy Awards) for The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs

    • Sings Audebert in Minnesota Opera's production of Kevin Puts' Silent Night, later recorded for Naxos Records

    • Debut at Ópera de Oviedo in Spain as Belcore in L'elisir d'amore

    • Returns to Atlanta Opera as Escamillo in Carmen

Selected Performances

  • Lyric Opera of Chicago — Valentin, Faust

  • Santa Fe Opera — Steve Jobs, world premiere of The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs (Grammy Award-winning recording)

  • Seiji Ozawa Matsumoto Festival, Japan — Escamillo, Carmen

  • Minnesota Opera & Boston Lyric Opera — Marcello, La bohème

  • Naxos Records — Audebert, Silent Night (studio recording)

  • Opera Oviedo, Spain — Belcore, L'elisir d'amore

  • Opera de Monte Carlo (Oman tour) — Mercutio, Roméo et Juliette

  • North Carolina Opera — Inman, Cold Mountain

  • Atlanta Opera & Nashville Opera — Escamillo and Mercutio

  • Portland Opera — Valentin, Faust

  • Detroit Opera — Zurga, Les pêcheurs de perles

  • Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Lyric Opera of Kansas City & Central City Opera — Conte Almaviva, Le nozze di Figaro

  • Des Moines Metro Opera — Ford, Falstaff

Concert & Recital

Recent concert work includes Orff's Carmina Burana with the Prague Proms International Music Festival and the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, a debut with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra in Duruflé's Requiem, a Carnegie Hall debut in an evening of songs by Charles Ives, and Schubert's Winterreise at the Schubert Club in St. Paul and Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.

Ed is a member of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, which has presented him in recital in New York, including alongside Susan Graham at Carnegie's Zankel Hall.

Awards & Honors

  • Grammy Award, Best Opera Recording — The (R)evolution of Steve Jobs

  • National Winner, Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition

  • Third Prize, Placido Domingo's Operalia Competition

  • First Prize, Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition

  • Awards from the George London Foundation, the Marilyn Horne Foundation, the Fritz and Lavinia Jensen Foundation Competition, the Irma M. Cooper Opera Columbus International Vocal Competition, Connecticut Opera, the Palm Beach Opera Competition, and the Music Academy of the West

  • Trained at the Met's Lindemann Young Artists Development Program