In previous seasons, Kyle Ketelsen made his house debuts at Vienna State Opera in the title role of Don Giovanni and at Teatro de la Maestranza as Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande. He returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago as Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore and to Canadian Opera Company in the title role of Bluebeard’s Castle, and sang Escamillo in Carmen with the RTVE Symphony Orchestra in Madrid.
He also returned to the Bavarian State Opera for his role debut as Kaspar in Der Freischütz in a new production by Dmitri Tcherniakov and to Dutch National Opera for his role debut as Adahm in Rudi Stephan’s Die ersten Menschen. Ketelsen sang Leporello in Don Giovanni at both Washington National Opera and Staatsoper Hamburg and returned to Opernhaus Zürich for his role debut as Selim in Il Turco in Italia. He was also scheduled to sing the Four Villains in Les contes d’Hoffmann at New National Theatre Tokyo and to make his role debut in the title role of Saint François d’Assise at Grand Théâtre de Genève. He also reprised Leporello with Musica Aeterna under Teodor Currentzis.
Other operatic highlights include Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande, Escamillo in Carmen, Leporello in Don Giovanni and Mr. Flint in Billy Budd at the Metropolitan Opera; Rodolfo in La Sonnambula, Méphistophélès in Faust and Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande at Opernhaus Zürich; Escamillo in Carmen at San Francisco Opera; King of Scotland in Ariodante, Masetto in Don Giovanni, the title role in Le nozze di Figaro and Méphistophélès in Faust at Lyric Opera of Chicago; Méphistophélès in La Damnation de Faust in Linz and Bonn with Les Siècles; Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, Dutch National Opera and Festival d’Aix-en-Provence; Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro at the Staatsoper Berlin and the Gran Teatre del Liceu; Leporello in Don Giovanni at Dallas Opera and Opéra National de Lyon; Golaud in Pelléas et Mélisande at Théâtre des Champs-Elysées; Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia at Bavarian State Opera; Enrico VIII in Anna Bolena at Minnesota Opera; Don Fernando in Fidelio at Houston Grand Opera, and Cadmus in Semele and Alidoro in La Cenerentola at the Canadian Opera Company.
Recent concert highlights include performances with Harry Bicket and The English Concert on tour as Zoroastro in Handel’s Orlando, as well as appearances with the St. Louis Symphony and Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Handel’s Messiah under Bernard Labadie. Other performances include Rossini’s Stabat Mater with Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival, conducted by Gianandrea Noseda; Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem with the San Francisco Symphony under Michael Tilson Thomas; Beethoven’s Fidelio with the National Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Christoph Eschenbach; Mozart’s Requiem with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Pinchas Zukerman; Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki; Falla’s Master Peter’s Puppet Show with The Knights at the Tanglewood Festival, and Rossini’s Moïse et Pharaon with the Collegiate Chorale at Carnegie Hall.
Ketelsen made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Oratorio Society of New York in Haydn’s Creation and reprised this work with Music of the Baroque in Chicago. Other career highlights on the concert stage include appearances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Berlioz’s Lélio, Falla’s El Retablo del Maese Pedro and Kaija Saariaho’s Cinq reflets au l’Amour de loin, under Esa-Pekka Salonen; with the Philharmonia Orchestra in Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex; with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, under Pierre Boulez, for a recording released on CD; with the Seattle Symphony in Mozart’s Requiem under Itzhak Perlman; with the Cleveland Orchestra in Haydn’s Harmoniemesse under Franz Welser-Möst, and with the Orchestre National de France, Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra, and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.
Ketelsen has won first prize in several international vocal competitions, including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, Richard Tucker Music Foundation (Career Grant), the George London Foundation, Licia Albanese Puccini Foundation, Sullivan Foundation, Opera Index, MacAllister Awards, Fort Worth Opera, National Opera Association, Connecticut Opera and Liederkranz Foundation. He is an alumnus of the University of Iowa and Indiana University.
Please note: Biographies are based on information provided to the CSO by the artists or their representatives. More current information may be available on websites of the artists or their management.
