Eric Cutler

The American tenor Eric Cutler comes from Iowa and initially graduated from Luther College in Decorah before being accepted into the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at the New York Metropolitan Opera. He won the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions there in 1998 and was honored with the Richard Tucker Award in 2005. Cutler began his career with the bel canto repertoire, singing roles for a lyric tenor. Under the guidance of Michael Paul, who is still his vocal mentor today, he then made the transition to the youthful dramatic repertoire. He has sung Siegmund in Andreas Homoki’s new production of Wagner’s Die Walküre at Zurich Opera, made his debut at the Vienna Staatsoper as Bacchus in Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos, and has appeared as Max in Weber’s Der Freischütz at the Bavarian Staatsoper. In the 2023-24 season, he sang Erik in Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman in Munich, performed the title character in Offenbach’s Les Contes d’Hoffmann and the Emperor in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten at the Dresden Semperoper, and took part in a new production of Beethoven’s Fidelio in Amsterdam as Florestan. In Zurich, he will appear as Paul in Korngold’s Die tote Stadt in the 2024-25 season. Eric Cutler has also performed at the Royal Opera House in London, the Opéra national de Paris, the Salzburg and Bayreuth Festivals, Chicago Lyric Opera, and the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels. Christian Thielemann has engaged him as Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Salzburg Easter Festival. Cutler is also very busy on the concert stage. He frequently performs the solo tenor part in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. He has also sung the title role in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust, for example, under Sylvain Cambreling in Hamburg, and Bruckner’s Te Deum with Bernard Haitink in London. He recently performed Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and François-Xavier Roth as well as with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Manfred Honeck.

April 2024