DANIEL BELCHER

GRAMMY® Award-winning baritone Daniel Belcher has performed in many of the world’s music capitals, including Paris, London, New York, San Francisco, Berlin, Stuttgart, Amsterdam, Geneva, Madrid, Toronto, Montreal, Tokyo, Seoul and Houston. With a repertoire of more than 90 roles, Belcher has championed roles from the Baroque to those composed expressly for him. He came to international attention in 2004 creating the role of Prior Walter in Peter Eötvös’ Angels in America for the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris for which he was hailed by London’s The Guardian as “possessing the kind of powerhouse stuff that indicates a star in the making.” He received his GRAMMY Award in 2011 for the role of Jaufré Rudel in Kaija Saariaho and Amin Malouf’s L’Amour de Loin under the baton of Kent Nagaon on the Harmonia Mundi Label. He also premiered Saariaho’s Sombre at the Rothko Chapel in Houston.

Belcher recently created the roles of Inspector Kildare in Kevin Puts and Mark Campbell's Elizabeth Cree at Opera Philadelphia, James Addison III in Ricky Ian Gordon and Royce Vavrek's The House Without a Christmas Tree at Houston Grand Opera (recorded on the Pentatone label), Lord Bellingham in Lori Laitman's The Scarlet Letter at Opera Colorado (released on the Naxos label), Brian Castner in Jeremy Howard Beck's The Long Walk with Opera Saratoga, and Robert Kennedy in Robin de Raaff's Waiting for Miss Monroe for his debut at The Netherlands Opera and Holland Festival. Other world premiere roles include John Brooke in Mark Adamo's Little Women (released on the Ondine label and recorded by PBS' Great Performances), Andy Warhol in Michael Daugherty's Jackie O (released by Decca on the Argo label), and multiple roles in Tod Machover's Resurrection (released on the Ondine label), all with Houston Grand Opera.

In addition to his active performing career, Belcher is a sought-after voice teacher, administrator and clinician. He is currently an Instructional Assistant Professor of Voice at the Moores School of Music at the University of Houston. He is formerly the Director of the Artist Diploma at William Jewell College. His students have won numerous prizes in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition, Lotte Lenya Competition, Zachary Awards and others. They have performed with the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, Central City Opera, Opera Saratoga, Opera Maine, Chautaugau Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, Opera Colorado, Minnesota Opera, Seattle Opera and many others.

He serves as the voice teacher for the Artists-in-Residence at Opera Colorado and formerly, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City Resident Artist Program. He has judged for the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition. In the past, he has served on the faculties of the Florida State University, Hawaii Performing Arts Festival, IVAI - Tel Aviv, and Creative Dialogue at the Sibelius Akademie in Helsinki. He has led master classes at USC, University of Utah, Manhattan School of Music, Peaboday Conservatory, and others, as well as with the young artist programs of Portland Opera, Utah Opera, Madison Opera, Chautauqua Opera.

He is married to Metropolitan Opera stage director Kathleen Smith Belcher, Director of the Moores Opera Center at University of Houston and is the father of soprano Madeline Belcher.