BIOGRAPHY
Featured by Opera News as one of their ‘25 Rising Stars’ (October 2015), tenor Andrew Bidlack’s recent highlights include his 2016 and 2018 Metropolitan Opera appearances as Beppe I Pagliacci; the principal tenor role in Iain Bell’s world premiere In Parenthesis at Welsh National Opera with performances at Covent Garden in 2016; and the role of Nikolaus Sprinck in Kevin Puts’s Nobel Prize winning Silent Night at Arizona Opera. Other recent successes include his performances as Tony West Side Story at Atlanta Opera, Lyric Opera of Kansas City and Liepāja Symphony Orchestra, Latvia; the role of Lyonnel Le Roi Arthus at Bard Summerscape and the Tiroler Festspiel Erl; and the role of Rob Hall in Joby Talbot’s celebrated Everest, a role he inaugurated at Dallas Opera and sang at Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Calgary Opera, Austin Opera, Chicago Opera Theater, and revived at Dallas Opera. Among his future engagements is a return to Dallas Opera for the premiere of Joby Talbot and Gene Scheer's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
Mr. Bidlack opens the 2022-23 season at Odyssey Opera with a double-bill of Rachmaninoff's Aleko/Francesca da Rimini as the Young Gypsy and Paolo. He then makes his debut at Oper Frankfurt as Augustin Moser Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and later sings Lampionaio/Maestro di ballo and Schmidt in their productions of Manon Lescaut and Werther. Following this will be a solo recital with Aurelien Eulert at Opera Delaware before returning to Oper Frankfurt in their double-bill of Kurt Weill's Der Zar lässt sich fotografieren and Carl Orff's Die Kluge as Der falsche Gehilfe and Erster Strolch. Rounding out the season he performs and records Everest with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the Barbican Theatre in London. Other recent appearances include Camille The Merry Widow at Opera Idaho, Carmina Burana with the New Choral Society in New York, Steven Kodaly She Loves Me at Madison Opera, and Almavia Il barbiere di Siviglia with the Sacramento Philharmonic,
Renowned for his interpretation of new roles in contemporary opera, Andrew has appeared in many world premieres, including Bell’s Stonewall as Andy at New York City Opera; he workshopped Greenhorn/Ishmael in the developmental production of Moby-Dick at San Francisco Opera and later performed the role at Dallas Opera and Chicago Opera Theatre; he inaugurated Tancredi The Inspector (John Musto) at Wolf Trap; he created the role of Charles Carter in Thomas Pasatieri’s The Hotel Casablanca, he developed the role of Christopher Morcom in The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turning (by Justine Chen and David Simpatico) for American Lyric Theatre. Other contemporary roles include The Young Collector A Streetcar Named Desire with Renée Fleming in his debut with Lyric Opera of Chicago also at Carnegie Hall; Ricky Ian Gordon's "27" as Pablo Picasso and Irving Tashman in the premiere of Gordon’s Morning Star; the role of Sandy The Lighthouse at Dallas Opera; at Des Moines Metro Opera he sang highly lauded performances as Bill Flight; in several productions of Florencia in el Amazonas Andrew sang the role of Arcadio, and he has appeared in the title role Candide.
Andrew’s significant body of standard repertoire includes many Rossini/Mozart and bel canto roles such as Tamino Die Zauberflote, Don Ottavio Don Giovanni, Almaviva Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Ferrando Cosi fan tutte; Rodrigo in Rossini's Otello, Don Ramiro La Cenerentola, Gomatz Zaide, Nemorino L’elisir d’amore, Tonio La Fille du Regiment, title role of Getry’s rarely heard opera Zemire et Azor. and Rinuccio Gianni Schicchi. Other past roles include Lensky Eugene Onegin, Young Gypsy Aleko, Lamplighter (cover Edmondo) Manon Lescaut, Baron Lummer Intermezzo, Almerik Iolanta, Prince Karl Franz The Student Prince, Anatol Vanessa, Rodolfo La bohème, Snout A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Emilio Partenope and Tom Rakewell The Rake’s Progress.
A graduate of San Francisco Opera’s prestigious Adler Fellowship, Mr. Bidlack made his house debut in The Little Prince and went on to appear as Odoardo Ariodante, Count Albert Die Tote Stadt, Simpleton Boris Godunov, Gastone La traviata, Ruiz Il Trovatore, Pedrillo Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Arturo Lucia di Lammermoor.
Other international engagements include his appearance as A Guest The Saint of Bleecker Street at the Spoleto Festival in Italy, which was recorded and released under the Chandos label; the role of Oronte Alcina in Chile and Damon Acis and Galatea in Macau.
Concert performances include the tenor solos in Handel's Messiah, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Haydn's Creation, and Mozart's Requiem. He made his Carnegie Hall debut singing the solos of Bach's Weihnachts Oratorium, and sang the tenor solo in Orff's Carmina Burana with both the South Dakota Symphony and the Milwaukee Symphony under the baton of Andreas Delfs. His recital appearance alongside soprano Ava Pine was well-received by public and critics alike.