Christopher's Biography
Tenor Christopher Leo King has enjoyed a varied career in Opera, Oratorio, Concert, Stage and Musical Theater in over 3,000 performances since growing up outside of Baltimore, Maryland. His acting and singing have taken him across the U.S. and Canada. Christopher has appeared as soloist with the Washington Opera, Wolf Trap Center for the Performing Arts, the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts, the National Symphony, Baltimore Symphony, Calgary Symphony, and the companies of Baltimore Opera, Opera Delaware, Des Moines Metro Opera, Prince Georges Opera, New Jersey State Opera, Chesapeake Opera, and Annapolis Opera.
His leading roles include Rodolfo in La Boheme, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly, Sam in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, Alfredo in La Traviata, Canio and Beppe in I Pagliacci, Captain Macheath in The Beggar’s Opera, and Mackie Messer in the Threepenny Opera. Mr. King appeared as Caveradossi with the New York City Opera National Company, and created the leading role of Arthur Nesbit in John Metcalf’s Tornak at the Banff Centre for the Performing Arts, which won the National Opera Association Award and the Opera America Award for Best New Opera Production.
He has also appeared as Hoffmann in the Tales of Hoffman with Nevada Opera, Don Jose with New York Grand Opera, Malcolm in Verdi’s Macbeth and the First Armored Man in Die Zauberflote by Mozart with Connecticut Grand Opera, and Camille in The Merry Widow. He has performed the leading roles in all the Gilbert & Sullivan operettas – with the exception of Utopia Limited – which he hopes to accomplish in the near future. He also appeared as Eisenstein in the Lamar University production of Die Fledermaus, where he served as Artist in Residence, as well as author of the transliteration of the libretto.
Mr. King is a recognized successful voice teachr with students throughout the professional realm of opera and music theatre. He is a 30-year resident of New Jersey, living in Sparta, NJ with his mezzo-soprano wife, Mary Pat Finucane, and their cat, Cyndi. He is a nationally published outdoor writer and poet and divides his non-musical time between fishing, real estate and gourmet cooking.
“Grace is the empowering Presence of God enabling you to be who he has CREATED you to BE and to do WHAT he has called you to do”… James Ryle