Brian Frutiger has established himself as a true Spieltenor, combining both the vocal accumen of a lyric tenor with the multi-layered characterizations and physical skill of a classically trained actor. This past spring Brian appeared as Abolitionist Tappan in Anthony Davis’ opera Amistad at the Spoleto Festival U.S.A. In the 2008-2009 season Brian joins the roster of The Metropolitan Opera where he will sing Poisson in Adriana Lecouvreur and cover Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor.
Mr. Frutiger has sung many of the great character and spieltenor roles across the United States. Last season, Brian made his debut at San Francisco Opera as El Remendado in Carmen and returned to Sarasota Opera as both Goro in Madama Butterfly and Uldino in Attila. Other credits include the Tanzmeister (Ariadne auf Naxos - Sarasota Opera), Bardolfo (Falstaff - Opera Omaha), Goro (Madama Butterfly - Opera Memphis), and Pang (Turandot - Connecticut Opera and Sacramento Opera).
In recent years Mr. Frutiger has added to his operatic repertoire by venturing outside of the standard character and spieltenor repertoire to include such roles as Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni - Sacramento Opera, Festival Opera at Walnut Creek, Pacific Repertory Opera), Frederic (The Pirates of Penzance - Lamplighters Music Theatre), Don Jose (Carmen - Vallejo Symphony), and Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus - Thessaloniki Concert Hall in Greece).
Prior to his San Francisco Opera debut, Brian returned to his roots in professional theater appearing as Robert Steele and Mr. Oscar in the critically acclaimed west coast premiere of the new Ahrens and Flaherty musical Dessa Rose at TheatreWorks. Other theater highlights include Metellus Cimber (Julius Caesar) with Shakespeare’s Motley Crew in Chicago, Jamie (My Fair Lady) and Anselmo (Man of La Mancha) with Music Theatre of Wichita, and the ensemble of The Student Prince with Paper Mill Playhouse.
Equally at home on the concert stage Mr. Frutiger has appeared with the San Francisco Symphony (Le Troisième Messager in Stravinsky’s Le Rossignol and Der Jüngling in Schumann’s Das Paradies und die Peri), Fresno Philharmonic (Tenor soloist in Mozart’s Coronation Mass in C Major), Wichita Choral Society (Tenor Soloist in Handel’s Messiah), and Old First Concerts (Tenor Soloist in Brahms’ Ziguenerlieder). In addition, Brian has appeared as the tenor soloist in Bach’s St. John Passion as well as several of Bach’s liturgical cantatas.
A native Kansan, Mr. Frutiger has won several awards including a Kansas Cultural Trust Enabling Grant, 2nd Place at the Heinz Rehfuss Singing Actor Awards (sponsored by Orlando Opera), the Mann Fellowship, and he has competed at the Regional Level of the Metropolitan National Council auditions. Mr. Frutiger has pursued doctoral studies at the University of Minnesota and holds degrees in music from Wichita State University and theater from Drake University.