Calvin Griffin, a native of Columbus, Ohio, has been hailed as “outstanding” by Opera News and was commended for his “voluminous bass-baritone” by South Florida Classical Review. His 2019-2020 season included the title role in Le nozze di Figaro with Florentine Opera, Handel’s Messiah with the Columbus and Virginia Symphonies, and singing Brühlmann and covering Lesbo in Werther in his Metropolitan Opera debut. This season, he returns to The Atlanta Opera as Der Lautsprecher in Der Kaiser von Atlantis, and makes his Opera Theatre of St. Louis debut as Simone in Gianni Schicchi and the Narrator in On the Battlefield of Broken Hearts.

In the 2018-2019 season, Mr. Griffin returned to the Richmond Symphony for Handel’s Messiah, Florida Grand Opera as the title character in Le nozze di Figaro, Minnesota Opera as Eddie in The Fix, and Wolf Trap Opera as Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Gomez in L’heure espagnole. In a busy 2017 -2018 season, he made exciting debuts with Atlanta Opera as Mother in The Seven Deadly Sins, Opera Birmingham as Escamillo in Carmen, Opera on the James as Leporello in Don Giovanni, and Opera Orlando as Alidoro in La Cenerentola. Additionally, he returned to Arizona Opera to sing Dr. Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Atlanta Opera as Morales in Carmen, and debuted with Minnesota Opera as the Potter’s Assistant in Fellow Travelers. In concert, he sang Handel’s Messiah with the Richmond Symphony and Bach’s Mass in B minor with Gloria Musicae in Sarasota, Florida. In the summer of 2017, Mr. Griffin returned to the Glimmerglass Festival as Elviro in Xerxes and the Undertaker in Porgy and Bess.