Anthony Dean Griffey

American tenor Anthony Dean Griffey has captured critical and popular acclaim on opera, concert and recital stages around the world. The combination of his beautiful and powerful lyric tenor voice, gift of dramatic interpretation and superb musicianship have earned him the highest praise from critics and audiences alike.

He recently returned to the Metropolitan Opera for the Met premiere of Nico Muhly’s Marnie, performed The Dream of Gerontius with the Indianapolis Symphony and Michael Francis, and was heard with pianist Warren Jones at the University of Notre Dame, at New York City’s Morgan Library for the George London Foundation for Singers, and the Toronto Summer Music Festival.

Anthony Dean Griffey has appeared in the world’s most prestigious opera houses including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Los Angeles Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Paris Opera, Teatro Comunale di Firenze, Teatro dell’Opera in Rome, and the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan. His many roles include the title roles in Peter Grimes, Idomeneo, Oedipus Rex, and Kurka’s The Good Soldier Schweik; Florestan in Fidelio, Erik in Die Fliegende Holländer Male Chorus in The Rape of Lucretia, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, and Jim Mahoney in The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.

Mr. Griffey is particularly noted for his portrayal of the title role in Peter Grimes, which has won him international acclaim. He debuted the role at the Tanglewood Festival under the baton of Seiji Ozawa, and has since performed it all over the world, most recently in concert performances with the St. Louis Symphony in St. Louis and at Carnegie Hall as part of its Britten Centenary celebrations. He also appeared in a new production at the Metropolitan Opera that was broadcast live in the company’s Met: Live in HD series and subsequently released on DVD (EMI Classics) and in a production with Mark Wigglesworth at the Glyndebourne Festival, which was also released as a commercial recording.

A supporter of new works, Mr. Griffey has won critical acclaim for creating the role of Mitch in the world premiere of André Previn’s A Streetcar Named Desire at the San Francisco Opera and for his performances of Lennie in Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men, for which he won a Helpmann award for Best Male Performer in an Opera when he performed the role at the Australia Opera.  He also recently premiered Christopher Theofanidis’ The Gift  with the Pittsburgh Symphony.

A celebrated concert performer, Mr. Griffey appears regularly with many distinguished international orchestras including the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Minnesota Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Philharmonia Orchestra in London, Halle Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Tonhalle Orchester Zürich, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic, Orquesta Nacional de España in Madrid, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland at the Concertgebouw, and the NHK Symphony Orchestra and Saito Kinen Orchestra in Japan. He has also appeared in the world’s most prominent festival including the BBC Proms and the Tanglewood, Ravinia, Aspen Music, Edinburgh, Lanaudière, and Saito Kinen festivals.

The list of acclaimed conductors he has worked with includes James Conlon, Sir Andrew Davis, Sir Colin Davis, Charles Dutoit, Mark Elder, Christoph Eschenbach, Donald Runnicles, Valery Gergiev, Alan Gilbert, Bernard Haitink, Manfred Honeck, Mariss Jansons, James Levine, Lorin Maazel, Sir Neville Marriner, Kurt Masur, Seiji Ozawa, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Andre Previn, Robert Spano, Patrick Summers, Michael Tilson Thomas, Edo de Waart, Mark Wigglesworth, Jaap van Zweden, and David Zinman.

Mr. Griffey made his Carnegie Hall Zankel Hall recital debut in 2004 where André Previn composed and dedicated a song cycle for him and accompanied him on the piano. Mr. Griffey has also been presented with his long-time pianist and collaborator Warren Jones by many prestigious recital series throughout the U.S. including San Francisco Performances, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, the Schubert Club in Saint Paul, Vocal Arts Society in Washington, D.C., the George London Foundation, the Cleveland Art Song, Ravinia and Marlboro festivals and the Music Academy of the West. In the spring of 2006 he had the distinction of being invited to perform a recital at the Supreme Court of the United States by Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

A four time Grammy-winning recording artist, Mr. Griffey’s extensive DVD and compact disc recordings include the Metropolitan Opera’s Peter Grimes (EMI Classics) the Los Angeles Opera’s The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny (Euroarts), the Metropolitan Opera’s Tristan und Isolde (DG/Universal); the San Francisco Opera’s A Streetcar Named Desire (video on Image Entertainment and audio on DG), Taylor’s Peter Ibbetson with the Seattle Symphony (Naxos), Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony (SFS Media), Lorin Maazel and the New York Philharmonic (New York Philharmonic), and the Tonhalle Orchestra (RCA); Britten’s War Requiem with Kurt Masur and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO); Les Mamelles de Tirésias with Seiji Ozawa (Philips); I Lombardi with James Levine (Decca/London); Amy Beach’s Cabildo (Delos); and Of Mice and Men with the Houston Grand Opera (Albany). He has also been featured as an Artist of the Week on A&E’s Breakfast with the Arts. Mr. Griffey’s most recently collaborated with classical guitarist Joseph Pecoraro on a solo Christmas album entitled This Little Light that was released in October 2012 (Cgs Enterprises).

Since the start of his career Mr. Griffey has taken an active role in many charitable efforts, advocating for arts programs in the Guilford County Public Schools, raising money for the Mental Health Association as well as giving benefit concerts for the “Open Door Shelter” for which Griffey has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for the homeless in his hometown. He is also actively involved with the High Point Area Arts Council. Mr. Griffey holds degrees from Wingate University, the Eastman School of Music, the Juilliard School and was a member of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Program. He was awarded the Doctorate of Humane Letters from Wingate University in May 2012 and was also inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame in 2011.

Since 2015 Griffey has held the position of Professor of Voice at the Eastman School of Music – University of Rochester.