CHAUNCEY PACKER
TENOR
BIOGRAPHY
Versatile tenor Chauncey Packer honed his craft in theater and musical theater productions including Baby, The Wizard of Oz, School House Rock Live, and Big River. He performed in Paris’ Louvre Museum in controversial and provocative European choreographer/director Robyn Orlin's Babysitting Petit Louis. In 2013-2014, he was cast in the First National Broadway Tour of The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess as the Honey Man and Sportin’ Life cover. Mr. Packer is featured on several commercial recording releases including Nashville Symphony’s Porgy and Bess on Decca Records and Paragon Ragtime Symphony’s Treemonisha and Black Manhattan Volume 3, both on New World Records. He is featured to critical acclaim in San Francisco Opera’s DVD release of Francesca Zambello’s Porgy and Bess.
Most recently Mr. Packer made débuts with Washington National Opera as Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess, the New World Symphony in their presentation of Der Kaiser von Atlantis, and returned to Charlotteville Opera for his role début of Don Jose in Carmen. Additionally, he sang the role of Ali in Edmond Dede’s Morgiane in a special presentation with Opera Lafayette in collaboration with Opera Creole and the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, and appeared with the New Jersey Festival Orchestra for their annual 3 Holiday Tenors concert. Other recent engagements include Alfredo in La Traviata with Knoxville Opera, Roldofo in Opera Memphis’ Beale Street La bohème, appearances with the South Florida Symphony and Louisiana Philharmonic for Handel’s Messiah, and his return to The Metropolitan Opera as Howard Boucher in Dead Man Walking and a reprisal of the role of Spinner in Fire Shut Up in Bones. In the upcoming season, Chauncey will return to the stage of The Metropolitan Opera for Porgy and Bess and to Washington National Opera as Judge Danforth in The Crucible.
READ MORE
In the 2022-2023 season, Mr. Packer joined The Metropolitan Opera to sing Bardolfo in Falstaff and Luis Rodrigo Griffith in Champion. He also made his role début as the Witch in Hansel and Gretel at New Orleans Opera, brought his celebrated Sportin’ Life in Porgy and Bess to Germany’s NDR Elbphilharmonic Orchestra, sang and danced as Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls with Charlottesville Opera, and reprised his Cavaradossi in Tosca for the Soo Theatre. Other recent highlights include his role début as Cavaradossi in Tosca and as Jo the Loiterer in Mother of us All at Chautauqua Opera, his return to The Metropolitan Opera as Robbins & Crab Man in Porgy and Bess and Spinner in Blanchard’s Fire Shut Up in my Bones, a role he reprised in 2022 with Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Scalia in Scalia/Ginsberg at Chautauqua Opera.
Mr. Packer made his Metropolitan Opera début in the roles of Sportin’ Life, Robbins, and Crabman in Porgy and Bess, was a soloist in Mozart’s Requiem with the Colour of Music Festival, appeared in concerts with the Saint-George International Music Festival and the Harrisburg Symphony, was Sportin’ Life with New York Harlem’s Porgy and Bess at Teatro Regio in Torino, Italy, and Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly at Soo Theatre Project in Michigan. He has performed with Nashville Opera, Mobile Opera, Pensacola Opera, Utah Festival Opera, Opera Grand Rapids, Des Moines Metro Opera, Opera Pacific, and New Orleans Opera. He has sung the roles of Rodolfo (La bohème), Alfredo (La Traviata), Pong (Turandot), Werther, Pinkerton (Madama Butterfly), Sam (Susannah), Ruggero (La rondine), Dr. Blind (Die Fledermaus), Tamino (The Magic Flute), Arturo (Lucia di Lammermoor), Amon (Akhnaten), and Sportin’ Life, Mingo, and Robbins (Porgy and Bess). Of his Sportin’ Life the Atlanta Journal proclaimed “Here Chauncey Packer was the complete entertainer...” He has performed the role in his 2008 debut with Paris’ Opera Comique, his 2016 debut at Teatro alla Scala, as well as with Tulsa Opera, Atlanta Opera, Opera Birmingham, San Francisco Opera, and a tour throughout Europe with New York Harlem Theatre.
On the concert platform, he has joined Edmonton Opera, Baton Rouge Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Mobile Symphony, Gulf Coast Opera, Shreveport Opera, Grand Rapids Symphony, Pensacola Symphony, Arkansas Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Sinfonica de Mineria, Louisiana Philharmonic, Signature Symphony, and Torun Symphony Orchestra. He was also featured in a concert at Théâtre des Champs-Élysées with the Orchestre Symphonique de la Garde Républicaine benefiting the organization Women of Africa. He was an apprentice with Des Moines Metro Opera and Utah Festival Opera, received his bachelor’s degree from University of Mobile, pursued a Master of Music from University of New Orleans, and postgraduate studies at Louisiana State University in music and theater. Chauncey is a featured soloist on three Grammy Award winning recordings. Porgy and Bess, Fire Shut Up in My Bones, and Champion, all with the Metropolitan Opera.
Current as of September 2025
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"... excellent..." – New York Times
Fire Shut Up in My Bones – “The entire cast was excellent, including the bright-voiced tenor Chauncey Packer as Spinner, Billie’s womanizing husband."
__________
“... lean, ringing tenor…” – Opera News
Porgy and Bess (recording) – “Chauncey Packer’s Sportin’ Life is a true entertainer, putting his unique stamp on “It ain’t necessarily so.” With his lean, ringing tenor, he flirts with the melody, sliding and whooping, and the chorus repeats every flight of vocal fancy. Even the orchestra gets into the act, responding with similar colors. In Packer’s hands, “There’s a boat that’s leavin’” is sinuous and seductive, making Bess’s defection inevitable, and the orchestra cuts loose spectacularly on the playoff."
__________
"... clarion-voiced tenor…” – Opera News
Fire Shut Up in My Bones – “…the flattering charm of clarion-voiced tenor Chauncey Packer’s Spinner.”