About
Theo Hoffman is among the most versatile and refined young singers of his generation. Mr. Hoffman has been seen performing with Los Angeles Opera, Opera Philadelphia, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, Atlanta Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Marlboro Music Festival, Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Salzburg Mozartwoche, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He is the recipient of a 2018 Richard Tucker Music Foundation Sara Tucker Study Grant and was a Grand Finalist in the 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.
In 2023, Theo can be seen making his European operatic debut at Staatsoper Hamburg in the celebrated Christof Loy production of Rossini's Il Turco in Italia as Prosdocimo. He can also be heard competing in the world renowned Das Lied song competition in Heidelberg. He will make his role debut and Asian debut as Pelléas in Debussy's masterpiece, Pelléas et Mélisande with the National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan, and in the fall, will make his debut with Opernhaus Zürich in a TBA new production.
In the 2021-22 season, Theo Hoffman returned from the COVID-19 hiatus with a season of exciting company debuts. He appeared with the Israeli Opera as Papageno in Barrie Kosky's Die Zauberflöte, and later in the season as Count Almaviva in a new David Pountney production of Le nozze di Figaro. Additionally, he made his postponed Seattle Opera debut as Schaunard in La Bohème, and his debut with Berkshire Opera Festival as Charlie in Jake Heggie's Three Decembers. Hoffman also appeared as Frédéric in Delibes' Lakmé with Washington Concert Opera, and as Pierrot in Ethel Smyth's Fête Galante with the Bard Music Festival.
In the 2019-20 season, baritone Theo Hoffman returned to Los Angeles Opera in his first professional performances of Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, marking his eighth production with the company. He debuted with Opera Philadelphia in the O19 Festival in the world premier of Denis & Katya by Philip Venables to great acclaim. Mr. Hoffman was seen at LA Opera as Mr. Kallenbach in Satyagraha, Opera Omaha as Paul in Les Enfants Terribles, and Count Almaviva in Le Nozze Di Figaro at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. He performed Colas/Buff in Bastien und Bastienne / Der Schauspieldirektor at the 2019 Salzburg Mozartwoche, where he was also seen in concert with Il Giardino Armonico. He performed Josef K. in the American Premiere of The Trial by Philip Glass at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis in 2017 to critical acclaim. Mr. Hoffman was presented in recital at The Kennedy Center in the 2017-18 season by Vocal Arts DC as the Gerald Perman Emerging Artist.
The Manhattan-born baritone trained at LA Opera as a Domingo-Colburn-Stein Young Artist. While a young artist, he performed Maximilian in Francesca Zambello's acclaimed production of Candide under the baton of James Conlon, as well as Le Dancaïre in Carmen. He debuted with the company in 2016 as Il medico in Macbeth opposite Placido Domingo, and performed Second Nazarene in Salome, Hermann in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, First Editor in Wonderful Town, and covered Horemhab in Akhnaten. Mr. Hoffman joined forces with composer/conductor Matthew Aucoin in a series of after-hours concerts at LA Opera entitled The Song: From Schubert to Springsteen as well as a chamber concert in conjunction with The Colburn School.
"From his first entrance chasing after flying puppets, Theo Hoffman’s geeky birder Papageno was a crowd-pleaser, with a solid, burnished baritone and a handy way with a self-deprecating retort."
OPERA NEWS
A fast-rising recitalist, Mr. Hoffman made his debut with the New York Festival of Song in 2013 in its Ports of Call program at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts and later performed at Carnegie Hall with the organization in its 2014 spring gala commemorating Leonard Bernstein. Since then, he has joined NYFOS for their After Hours and NYFOS Next series, as well as Craigslistlieder and Other Love Songs, and Great American Songwriting Teams at Juilliard. In 2016, he was named a member of their Artists Council after his curatorial involvement in Schubert/Beatles, which makes future appearances with Moab Music Festival and Lyric Opera of Kansas City. In 2014, he made his Alice Tully Hall debut in Juilliard Songfest, at which he performed Britten's Songs and Proverbs of William Blake with Brian Zeger. A former SongFest Stern Fellow, his performances included joining Martin Katz for Ravel’s Don Quichotte a Dulcinée and a recital curated by John Musto that included the composer’s The Brief Light at The Colburn School in Los Angeles. His other recital and chamber music credits include Barber’s Dover Beach with Juilliard ChamberFest as well as works on Juilliard’s Songbook and Liederabend series and performances at the Chautauqua Institution and the Eastman School of Music.
In the 2015-16 season, Mr. Hoffman made his debut with Atlanta Opera as Schaunard in La bohème and returned to The Juilliard School as a Master of Music candidate under the mentorship of Sanford Sylvan. There he sang his first performances of Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Le Directeur in Les Mamelles de Tirésias, and covered the title role in Der Kaiser von Atlantis. Additionally, he joined Arizona Musicfest as the baritone soloist in Carmina Burana, as well as the New York Philharmonic for a chamber concert of Wolf and Mahler.
In the 2014-15 season, Mr. Hoffman joined the Cecilia Chorus of New York for Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, marking his Carnegie Hall debut and sang Orff’s Carmina Burana as a guest artist at Vassar College. He performed Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas with New York Lyric Opera and debuted with the Portland Symphony Orchestra as Jailer, First Officer, and Second Commissioner in Dialogues des carmélites. Mr. Hoffman spent summer 2015 at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in the company’s Mozart Residency.
"The anchor of the production is the physically slight, vocally towering performance of Theo Hoffman as Josef K....Theo has created as thrillingly definitive a rendition of this central character as is likely possible."
OPERA TODAY
Mr. Hoffman completed his Bachelor of Music degree at The Juilliard School, where he was the winner of the 2015 Juilliard Vocal Arts Honors Recital and was presented in recital at Alice Tully Hall. Additionally at Juilliard, he performed Bob in Menotti’s Old Maid and the Thief, the Count in Le nozze di Figaro, Lunardo in Le donne curiose, and covered Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia. He made his professional debut with Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as Thierry in Dialogues des carmélites, where he has also covered Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Tomeš in Smetana’s The Kiss, and Major-General Stanley in The Pirates of Penzance while a Gerdine Young Artist.
Mr. Hoffman made his first public appearance on the Metropolitan Opera stage as a Grand Finalist in the 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions after winning in the Eastern Region. Mr. Hoffman is a 2015 third prize-winner in the Gerda Lissner Foundation’s International Vocal Competition, and the recipient of a Richard Gaddes Career Grant from Opera Theatre of Saint Louis.
ARTISTIC AFFILIATIONS
Mr. Hoffman serves as a creative contributor to the following organizations.
