Liam Bonner (born March 18, 1981) is a New York based baritone opera singer. He is currently in the company of The Metropolitan Opera[1] in New York, NY. He frequently guests with the Houston Grand Opera[2] in Houston, Texas, among other American and European opera companies. He has won multiple awards, including third place in the First International Pavel Lisitsian Baritone Competition in Moscow, Russia.[3] He is also an award winner in the Lotte Lenya Competition,[4] and the Houston Grand Opera's Eleanor McCollum Competition.
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Bonner attended Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh, PA, where he grew up. He achieved a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Master of Music from the Manhattan School of Music.[5] He is also an alumnus of the San Francisco Opera's Merola Program and a former Studio and Apprentice Artist at Central City Opera.
Bonner is the recipient of a Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshana Foundation and was a semi-finalist in The Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He has won awards from The George London Foundation and the Houston Grand Opera’s Eleanor McCollum Competition.[6]
In the 2010-11 season Bonner sang his debut performances as Pelléas in Pelléas and Mélisande with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and covered the same role with The Metropolitan Opera, as well as covering the role of Raimbaud in Le Comte Ory. Bonner performed the role of Zurga in Les pêcheurs de perles with The New Orleans Opera and as Ned Keene in Peter Grimes with the Houston Grand Opera.
In the 2009-2010 season, Bonner made his Washington National Opera debut in the title role of Hamlet under the baton of Placido Domingo and returned to the Houston Grand Opera as Belcore in L'elisir d'amore.
Bonner’s Metropolitan Opera debut was playing Morales in Carmen in 2010, and later, Horatio in Hamlet.[7]
In 2010, Bonner sang his first performances of Malatesta in Don Pasquale with Opera New Jersey [8] and as Yesterday’s Beloved in Kurt Weill’s Royal Palace with the Bard Music Festival[9]
As a special alumnus guest artist with The Carnegie Mellon Philharmonic, Bonner made his Carnegie Hall debut, singing Gustav Mahler’s Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen. His European opera debut was as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte with The English National Opera.
Bonner is a recurring cast member at Houston Grand Opera, with which company he has performed many high profile roles including:
In 2007, Bonner joined The Wolf Trap Opera as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte.[10] and again in 2008 as II Cavaliere di Befiore in Verdi’s Un giorno di Regno. He has also appeared with The Berkshire Opera as the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, The Aspen Opera Theatre as Sid in Albert Herring, and with L'Opéra de Québec for its annual opera concert and gala.
As a soloist, Bonner has performed with the Houston Ballet in Stravinsky’s Les Noces and in Orff’s Carmina Burana at Carnegie Mellon University. In addition, he sang selections from Mozart’s operas with the Pittsburgh Symphony and headlined with the Czech Republic’s Filharmonie Hradec Králové for a concert of popular opera pieces.