From: Hulunbuir, China. LA Opera: King of Egypt in Aida (2022, debut); Commendatore in Don Giovanni (2023).
Peixin Chen is recognized for his majestically resonant bass voice and for a keen dramatic instinct that he brings to a wide range of roles on the international opera stage. He has worked with an illustrious array of conductors and directors including Harry Bicket, Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Giancarlo del Monaco, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, David Paul, Michel Plasson, David Pountney, James Robinson, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Patrick Summers, Krzysztof Urbański, and Francesca Zambello.
Engagements for the 2021/22 season include The Magic Flute and Boris Godunov at the Metropolitan Opera, Turandot at Houston Grand Opera, and Aida at Cincinnati Opera. Symphonic performances bring him to the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra for Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.
Highlights of recent seasons include a European debut at the Festival d’Aix en Provence in Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen in a new production by Ivo van Hove, a Metropolitan Opera debut as Sarastro in The Magic Flute conducted by Harry Bicket, and a return to Opera Philadelphia as Colline in La Bohème conducted by Corrado Rovaris.
Peixin Chen has sung Sparafucile in Rigoletto at Santa Fe Opera and the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Sarastro in The Magic Flute with Opera Philadelphia, Dulcamara in L’Elisir d’Amore at Washington National Opera, and the Patriarch of Moscow in Dvořák’s Dmitrij at the Bard Music Festival in a new production directed by Anne Bogart. With his home company of Houston Grand Opera, he has bowed as Don Bartolo in The Barber of Seville, Oroveso in Norma, the King in Aida, Ferrando in Il Trovatore, Sarastro in The Magic Flute, and as Hunding in Die Walküre. As a member of the Merola Program under the auspices of San Francisco Opera, he appeared as Basilio in performances of The Barber of Seville.
The Marriage of Figaro has featured prominently in the bass’ career assaying the title role in a new production by David Paul for Opera Saratoga and bowing as Bartolo at the Houston Grand Opera conducted by Harry Bicket in the company’s acclaimed production by Michael Grandage, at Beijing’s National Center for the Performing Arts, and in fully-staged performances with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra led by Edo de Waart.
His concert schedule has included performances of the Verdi Requiem with the Houston Grand Opera Orchestra and Chorus conducted by Music Director Patrick Summers and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with Leonard Slatkin and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra as well as with Andrés Orozco-Estrada and the Houston Symphony.
He is a graduate of the Houston Grand Opera Studio and a student of Dr. Stephen King.
Learn more at PeixinChen.com.
