Richard Croft | tenor | official artist webpage

Discography | Repertoire List |

30.03.05 - A Conductor of Rare Sensitivity

The tenor portraying Don Ottavio was Richard Croft, a welcome sight on the Met stage.

01.03.05 - A Familiar Story Is Told Once Again, With Some Unfamilier Faces

Richard Croft's tenor carried Don Ottavio's difficult music with admirable poise.

09.02.04 - Chanter comme des dieux

Ténor subtil, l'Americain Richard Croft, ...

Capriccio

(Glyndebourne)

American tenor Richard Croft has performed to great acclaim around the world, including the Salzburg Festival, Glyndebourne Festival; Deutsche Oper Berlin, Netherlands Opera, Opéra National de Paris; the Metropolitan Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Dallas Opera; the Atlanta Symphony, Boston Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and the Minnesota Orchestra.

Croft’s crystalline voice has been described as “godlike,” “refined and virtuosic,” in roles like Jupiter in Handel’s Semele. His flexible instrument is uniquely suited to the intricate demands of Baroque and Classical roles, but his repertoire is far from limited to these. Critics hailed his Glyndebourne performance as Flamand the composer in Strauss’s Capriccio as “pure and ardent,” “thrilling to hear and watch.”

He has also sung the title role in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress as well as Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande (“impassioned, clear-toned and ideal”).
Croft made his debuts with the Houston Grand Opera and Washington Opera as Ferrando in Mozart’s Così fan tutte. He later sang the same role under James Levine at the Metropolitan Opera along with Belmonte in Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Almaviva in Rossini’s ll barbiere di Siviglia. Other Mozartean leads include the title role in La clemenza di Tito for the Dallas and Santa Fe Operas, Mitridate at the Salzburg, Il ré pastore and Mitridate at the Netherlands Opera and Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni) at the Opéra National de Paris.

In concert, Croft debuted with the Cleveland Orchestra in the title role of Pelléas et Mélisande in concerts led by Pierre Boulez. He also made his Carnegie Hall debut under Sir Neville Marriner in Mozart's Requiem. Other concert appearances included Messiah with the Minnesota Orchestra.In Europe, Croft appears frequently with the Netherlands Opera, Glyndebourne and Salzburg Festivals.

His repertoire includes seldom-performed works such as Alessandro Scarlatti’s Il primo omicidio in which he sang the role of Adam, and Florian Leopold Gassmann’s parody comic opera, L’opera seria, in which he took the role of Sospiro the composer.

Richard Croft has recorded Handel’s Ariodante and Hercules for Deutsche Grammophon/ARCHIV as well as Gluck’s Orphée et Eurydice, all with Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre. Critics uniformly praised Orphée, calling Croft’s performance “tremendous” and “ideal.” His performance in Hercules was lauded for its “beautiful timbre, brilliant enunciation and rhythmically stunning ornamentation.” His recording for Harmonia Mundi of Scarlatti’s Il primo omicidio in the role of Adam won a 1999 Gramophone Award. For Erato, he recorded Handel’s Theodora with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants. His Drottningholm performances of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail and La finta giardiniera have been released on video and laserdisc by Philips Classics.

The musical gene is clearly dominant in the Croft family. Richard’s brother, Dwayne, is also a world-class singer, but there’s no sibling rivalry between them; Dwayne is a baritone.