COREY MCKERN
BARITONE
BIOGRAPHY
Award-winning baritone Corey McKern continuously earns critical acclaim and accolades in every appearance he makes. Of his performance as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia, critics hailed: “Corey McKern… has all the goods to rise to star stature – timing, stamina, vocal heft and an easy-going stage presence – especially telling in Figaro’s signature aria, ‘Largo al factotum della citta.’” Recently named the Artistic Director at Pensacola Opera, McKern assisted in multiple engagements with Pensacola Opera last season: “Forty Forward”, La bohéme, and Carousel.
Recent engagements include Pizarro in Fideliowith Heartbeat Opera, Bliss with Detroit Opera, Mozart’s Requiem with Meridian Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with both Asheville Symphony Orchestra and the Jacksonville Symphony. Additionally, he has performed Older Thompson in Glory Denied with Opera Birmingham, Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Inland Northwest Opera, the title role in Don Giovanni, Escamillo in Carmen, and Captain Corcoran in H.M.S. Pinafore with Pensacola Opera, performances as a soloist in Carmina burana with Missoula Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with the Alabama Symphony, Mahler’s Songs of a Wayfarer for Pensacola Symphony, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Tallahassee Symphony. He also returned to the Florentine Opera for a concert of “Opera’s Greatest Hits,” performed in Nashville Opera’s Opera Jukebox Virtual Concert, in Asheville Symphony’s Virtual Gala, and Mobile Opera’s Winter Gala Concert. [read more...]
CRITICAL ACCLAIM
"...a focused, rich, baritone and a fascinating interpretation..." – Journal Sentinel
Carmina Burana – “McKern used a focused, rich, baritone and a fascinating interpretation to create a decisive, engaging character as he sang.”
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"...entirely in character..." – AL.com
Pagliacci – “As Silvio, McKern was entirely in character as Nedda’s suitor. His Act 1 duet with Los was nicely rendered, the couple’s plans to run away together convincingly expressed.”
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"...displays a range of emotion..." – Syracuse.com
Le nozze di Figaro – “McKern, baritone, displays a range of emotion in his Act II recitative and aria that first has him joyful at the prospect of meeting Susanna later in the garden, then has him livid that he thinks she has tricked him.”
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"...one of the best I’ve ever heard...” – Santa Fe New Mexican
La bohème – “The excellent cast sang well and looked their parts…Corey McKern’s resolute, robust-voiced and rambunctious Marcello, a perfect picture of a wannabe Parisian painter, was one of the best I’ve ever heard.”
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"...has all the goods to rise to star stature..." – Birmingham News
Il barbiere di Siviglia – “Equally ego-drivenwas the barber, Figaro, in this characterization by baritone Corey McKern. ThePelham native has all the goods to rise to star stature – timing, stamina,vocal heft and an easy-going stage presence – especially telling in Figaro’s signature aria, “Largo al factotum della citta.”