Metropolitan Opera Baritone, Gary Simpson, will sing HOLLAENDER in Der Fliegende Hollaender, his fifth production, in Cape Town, South Africa in January, 2011. In February Gary will sing IAGO in Otello with the Arizona Opera. He has sung IAGO with the Minnesota Opera, Hawaii Opera Theater, The Otello Project and with the Opera Orchestra of New York in Mexico City. Gary sang HOLLAENDER in Der Fliegende Hollaender at the Bucharest National Theater, Romania, the Statni Opera Prague, Czech Republic, the Manaus Opera Festival in Brazil, as well as with the Hawaii Opera Theater. Gary sang DONNER in Das Rheingold with L’Opera Montreal. At the Bucharest National Theater he also sang RIGOLETTO. Gary has sung SCARPIA, AMONASRO and RIGOLETTO with the Statni Opera Prague, as well as SCARPIA with the Seattle Opera where Gary was heard as AMFORTAS in the live radio broadcast of Parsifal. Gary sang SCARPIA with the Deutche Oper Berlin, Germany and with the Gars Opernair Festival, Austria where he also sang GERMONT in La Traviata.
Gary has sung two productions of SWEENEY in Sweeney Todd with the Augusta and Tulsa Operas and CERVANTES/DON QUIXOTE in Man of La Mancha with Shreveport Opera and the Bluefield Players, Bluefield West Virginia. Gary sang on the New York Shakespear Festival’s Anniversary of the “Bard”. Roles with Hawaii Opera Theater were, RIGOLETTO, CONTE DI LUNA- Il Trovatore, KURVENAL-Tristan und Isolde, AMONASRO-Aida. Mr. Simpson sang TONIO and ALFIO in the Stephen Lawless acclaimed production of Pagliacci/Cavalleria Rusticana with the Palm Beach Opera. Gary also performed FALSTAFF with the Stadt Theater Hagen in Hagen, Germany and with the Washington International Opera where he also sang GERMONT – La Traviata, SHARPLESS- Madama Butterfly.
Gary sang NABUCCO in Pretoria, South Africa, MACBETH with the Kansas City Lyric and with the Hong Kong Cultural Arts Center, GERMONT and RIGOLETTO in Columbo Sri Lanka, POSA-Don Carlos, Shanghai, China, SCARPIA in Sao Paolo Brazil, RIGOLETTO in Ottawa Canada, GERMONT with Fresno Opera, SHARPLESS with the Baltimore and Omaha Opera Companies, RENATO- Ballo in Maschera with Palm Beach Opera and the Virginia Opera, RIGOLETTO in Guadalajara, Mexico, ROGER- Jerusalem with Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall, ST BRIE- Les Heugenots, Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall. CARMINA BURANA with the West Virginia Symphony. Gary is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts.