Galen Scott Bower is one of America’s most exciting up-and-coming operatic performers. A graduate of Yale University’s Master of Music and Artist Diploma programs, Mr. Bower has received significant critical and public acclaim for his rich baritone voice and commanding stage presence.

In the 2010/11 season, Galen Scott Bower revisited his most performed role: the title role of Rigoletto at the St. Petersburg Opera in Florida. In 2010, he performed with Coro Lirico in the role of Amonasro in Verdi’s Aida. Mr. Bower’s recent engagements include international performances as Rigoletto at the Asociación Bilbaina de Amigos de la Ópera in Bilbao, Spain and his debut portrayal of Michele in Yale Opera Theatre’s production of Il Tabarro in Milan, Italy.

Audiences also saw Mr. Bower as Giorgio Germont in Amarillo Opera’s 2006 production of La Traviata. In 2004 he made his Metropolitan Opera debut under the baton of Maestro James Levine in the role of Pompeo in Berlioz’s Benvenuto Cellini. The same year he sang his first portrayal of the title role in Rigoletto with Maestro Julius Rudel conducting at Aspen Music Festival.

The 2002/03 season saw Mr. Bower as Guglielmo in Così fan tutte with Sarasota Opera under the baton of Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Tonio in I Pagliacci with Sorg Opera and the Second Nazarene in Salome at Louisville Opera. In 2001, Mr. Bower was engaged to sing Sharpless in Madama Butterfly with Opera Company of Brooklyn and Alfio in Cavalleria Rusticana with Pine Mountain Music Festival.

Galen Scott Bower participated in two of the most prestigious young artist programs: the Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Artist Program and the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Ryan Opera Center (formerly Lyric Opera Center for American Artists). At the Chicago Lyric he performed Morales in Carmen and the Immigration Officer in William Bolcom’s A View from the Bridge, which was recorded for New World Records. Mr. Bower has worked with many important conductors in addition to those mentioned above including James Conlon, Fabio Luisi, Edo de Waart, Yves Abel, Donato Renzetti and Dennis Russell Davies.

Mr. Bower’s opera and vocal achievements have been widely recognized with renowned awards and prizes including the Licia Albanese-Puccini Grant, the Sara Tucker Grant (Richard Tucker Awards), the MacAllister Awards (collegiate division), and the Palm Beach Opera Competition.

“Pari siamo”; from Verdi’s Rigoletto (2011)†

Bizet
Escamillo - Carmen
Zurga - Les Pêcheurs de Perles
Bolcom
Eddie Carbone - A View from the BridgeDonizetti
Enrico - Lucia di Lammermoor
Giordano
Gérard - André Chénier
Humperdinck
Peter - Hansel and Gretel
Leoncavallo
Tonio - I Pagliacci
Mascagni
Alfio - Cavalleria Rusticana
Massenet
Hérod - Hérodiade
Moore
Horace Tabor - The Ballad of Baby Doe

 

Puccini
Gianni Schicchi - Gianni Schicchi
Marcello - La Bohème
Michele - Il Tabarro
Scarpia - Tosca
Sharpless - Madama Butterfly
R. Strauss
Jochanaan - Salome
Tchaikovsky
Prince Yeletsky - Pique Dame
Verdi
Amonasro - Aida
Ezio - Attila
Renato - Un Ballo in Maschera
Rodrigo - Don Carlo
Ford - Falstaff
Rigoletto - Rigoletto
Germont - La Traviata
Count di Luna - Il Trovatore
Jago - Otello
Wagner
Donner - Das Rheingold
Wolfram - Tannhäuser

Faure - Requiem
Mendelssohn - Elijah
Orff - Carmina Burana

  

Mahler - Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Rückert Lieder, Kindertotenlieder
* This list represents recommended roles in the artist's operatic repertoire. For a list of performed repertoire, please refer to the artist's resume and biography listed in the downloadable materials on our Artist Roster Page.

“There was a vintage, golden-age quality to Galen Scott Bower's performance Friday as the title character of Rigoletto by St. Petersburg Opera at the Palladium Theater. That is high praise because opera, perhaps more than any art form, is obsessed with the past — the walls of opera houses are lined with photos of singers in long-ago productions — and Verdi's jester is an iconic role. Bower was the complete Rigoletto, mercilessly mocking one and all in the depraved court of the Duke of Mantua, then raging in impotent fury at his fate in the dark soliloquy Pari siamo. The jester's love for his daughter, Gilda — "My daughter is my whole world," he pleads when she is abducted — was tenderly expressed by the baritone.”

John Fleming, ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

“As Germont, Alfredo’s father, Galen Scott Bower gave a passionate, memorable performance. His aria in Act 2 and his duet work with Violetta in the same act were superb.”

Chip Chandler, THE AMARILLO GLOBE

“Bower’s voice is beautifully shaped and has wonderful tone.”

Albert H. Cohen, ST. PETERSBURG TIMES

“Galen Scott Bower, as Guglielmo, has a rich baritone voice and a commanding presence as well as a gift for comic timing.”

Florence Fisher, SARASOTA HERALD TRIBUNE

“I would like to hear baritone Galen Scott Bower in roles more challenging than Sharpless. His voice lent richness to the performance and his acting was very true-to-life.”

Harold Levin, OPERAJAMBOREE.CROSSWINDS.NET

“Baritone Galen Scott Bower made a sturdy Guglielmo, conveying both ardor and exasperation.”

Ted Shen, CHICAGO TRIBUNE

“Act III trio from Offenbach’s TALES OF HOFFMAN…supported by fiery singing from baritone Galen Scott Bower as Dr. Miracle, this was a seriously intense reading.”

Lawrence A. Johnson, CHICAGO TRIBUNE

 † Media courtesy of St.Petersburg Opera