San Francisco Classical Voice
Photo by Fay Fox
Russell Thomas Plays It Forward
Hailed by Opera Magazine as having a “heroically shining tone of exceptional clarity and precision,” African-American tenor Russell Thomas, at 44, is making his operatic mark both on and off the stage. Recently appointed by Los Angeles Opera as artist-in-residence through the end of the organization’s 2023–2024 season (succeeding composer/conductor Matthew Aucoin), Thomas, who studied at Miami’s New World School of the Arts, is no stranger to the City of Angels.
Having performed in LAO’s Norma in 2015, Tosca in 2017 and as the titular role in The Clemency of Titus in 2018, Thomas also worked with the LA Philharmonic that year in The Song of the Earth, under the baton of Music Director Gustavo Dudamel, who again led the tenor in a production of Otello at the Hollywood Bowl that summer. Indeed, the musician also has a global presence, having performing at, among other illustrious venues, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Oper Frankfurt, and at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.