"Eric Cutler brings a winning combination of full-and head-voiced singing to the challenging role of Raoul. Soon after he sang his heart out in the fourth act duet with Valentine - the most popular love duet of the 19th century - he shined again in Raoul's taxing aria in Act 5."
George Loomis, New York Times, June 2011
Eric Cutler's uniquely virtuosic voice has been celebrated in the world's leading opera houses. His appearances include the Metropolitan Opera; the Paris Opera; the Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich; the Salzburg Festival; the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; Venice's Teatro la Fenice; Lyric Opera of Chicago; Brussels' Theatre Royal de la Monnaie; the Teatro dell'Opera, Rome; the Glyndebourne Festival; the Canadian Opera Company; Houston Grand Opera; Vlaamse Opera; Opera Australia; Santa Fe Opera; the Grand Theatre de Gevene and many others. He is also a regular visitor to the world's leading orchestras.
In the 2011/12 season, Eric Cutler returns to Houston Grand Opera as Leicester in a new production of Maria Stuarda opposite Joyce di Donato and conducted by Patrick Summers. He returns to Santa Fe Opera as Nadir in a new production of Les Pecheurs de Perles and makes his role and house debut at the Greek National Opera, Athens, as Gounod's Faust. Another Faust - this time of Berlioz - marks his debut with the Munich Philharmonic under Stephane Deneve and opposite the legendary Mephistopheles of Jose van Dam. Other concert appearances include his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Riccardo Muti in Liszt's Faust Symphony and Beethoven's Symphony No.9 under Christoph von Dohnanyi in a debut with the Cleveland Orchestra. He also performs Amenophis in Rossini's Moise et Pharaon at Carnegie Hall with the Collegiate Chorale. Future seasons will see returns to the Metropolitan Opera and the Teatro Real, Madrid as well as debuts with the Berlin Staatsoper and Oper Frankfurt.
Eric Cutler specialises in the technically challenging French and Italian repertoire of the nineteenth century. Most recently, he triumphed as Raoul de Nangis in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots in a new production by Olivier Py at the Monnaie with Marc Minkowski conducting. He also sang this role in concert at the Teatro Real in Madrid. Other French repertoire includes Gounod's Romeo (Teatro la Fenice, Opera Australia), Iopas in Les Troyens (Paris Opera, Valencia under Valery Gergiev including a DVD, Boston Symphony Orchestra under James Levine), Nadir in Les Pecheurs de Perles (Lyric Opera of Chicago), the title role in La Damnation de Faust (Vlaamse Opera), Nicias in Thais (Edinburgh Festival under Sir Andrew Davis) and Leopold in La Juive (new production at the Metropolitan Opera).
His roles in Italian have included Leicester in Maria Stuarda (Grand Theatre de Geneve, Canadian Opera Company, Vlaamse Opera), the Duke in Rigoletto (La Fenice, Houston Grand Opera), Alfredo in La Traviata (Bayerische Staatsoper), Ernesto in Don Pasquale (Covent Garden), Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor (Opera Australia) and the supremely challenging Arturo in I Puritani (Metropolitan Opera opposite Anna Netrebko including DVD). He sang Amenophis in Rossini's Moise et Pharaon under the baton of Riccardo Muti at both the Salzburg Festival and the Teatro dell'Opera, Rome.
A recent triumph for Eric Cutler was a new production of Szymanowski's Krol Roger directed by Kristoph Warlikowski and conducted by Kazushi Ono which was telecast throughout Europe. He repeated this role in a concert performances in September 2011 at the Monnaie in honour of Poland's assumption of the European presidency in the presence of the Polish president. Other twentieth-century repertoire includes the Italian Tenor in Der Rosenkavalier at the Metropolitan Opera (international HD transmission opposite Renée Fleming and Susan Graham conducted by Edo de Waart) and Andres in Wozzeck conducted by James Levine, also at the Met.
Eric Cutler's Mozart roles include Tamino in Die Zauberflöte at the Met, the Edinburgh Festival (under Claudio Abbado), the Glyndebourne Festival, at the Hollywood Bowl and in Toulouse. Belmonte in Die Entführung aus dem Serail served as his debut at Houston Grand Opera, the Teatro Real, Madrid and a return to the Tanglewood Festival. He has also sung Ferrando in Cosi fan tutte at Lyric Opera of Chicago (Sir Andrew Davis) and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (Sir Jonathan Miller and Robert Spano). His Santa Fe Opera debut was as Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni under Alan Gilbert.
Eric Cutler collaborates regularly with the leading orchestras of the USA and Europe. He has sung with the Boston Symphony under Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos in Rossini's Stabat Mater to acclaim as well as appearing at the Tanglewood Festival. He performed both Lélio and the Requiem of Berlioz with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under Esa-Pekka Salonen as well as Mozart's Requiem under Christoph von Dohnanyi there. At the BBC Proms he performed Mozart's Mass in C Minor under the late Sir Charles Mackerras as well as Beethoven’s Symphony No.9 under Osmo Vanska. With the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas, he sang the Steuermann in concert performances of Wagner's Der Fliegende Hollander. Handel's Messiah was the vehicle for his debuts with both the Baltimore and Houston Symphonies.
Eric Cutler is a native of Adel, Iowa and an alumnus of Luther College and the Metropolitan Opera's Lindemann Young Artists Development Programme. He is the winner of the 2005 Richard Tucker Award as well as earlier Study and Career Grants from the Tucker Foundation. He also won the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center and the ARIA Award. He currently resides in Germany with his wife and son.
Eric Cutler is represented by Intermusica in Europe.
November 2011 / 915 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.
Leicester in Maria Stuarda / Houston Grand Opera
“Eric Cutler is stylish and ardent as Leicester, the cooked-up object of both queens’ love”
George Loomis, Financial Times, April 2012
“Eric Cutler brings a warm, secure… tenor to Leicester, warm with Mary and properly wary with Elizabeth”
Everett Evans, Houston Chronicle, April 2012
“…sung here by tenor Eric Cutler with bright, ardent tone”
Mike Silverman, Association Press, April 2012
“He sounded robust…and his pleas to Elizabeth to save his inamorata were heartfelt and solid”
D.L Groover, Houston Press, April 2012
Liszt A Faust Symphony / Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Cond Riccardo Muti / Dir Duain Wolfe
“Muti had the splendid male voices of the Chicago Symphony Chorus and the mellifluous tenor of Eric Cutler to sing of earthly transcendence, a magnificent effect.”
John von Rhein, Chicago Tribune, October 2011
Raoul in Myerbeer’s Les Huguenots
La Monnaie, Brussels / Cond. Marc Minkowski
“The tenor Eric Cutler brings a winning combination of full- and head-voiced singing to the challenging role of Raoul. Soon after he sang his heart out in the fourth-act duet with Valentine — the most popular love duet of the 19th century — he shined again in Raoul’s taxing aria in Act 5.”
New York Times, June 2011
“Eric Cutler’s outstanding Raoul de Nangis is heroic yet supple...”
Financial Times, June 2011
“Eric Cutler makes light of all the traps present in the role of Raoul de Nangis...”
Diapason, June 2011