Donovan Singletary

After an historic and critically acclaimed opening to the 2021-2022 season performing two lead roles in Terrance Blanchard’s, Fire Shut Up In My Bones, the first opera by a black composer produced at New York’s Metropolitan Opera in its 138 year history—Donovan will make debuts with Glyndebourne, Berlin Philharmonic, and the BBC Proms. He also portrays Antron McCray in Anthony Davis’ tragic true life story of The Central Park Five—winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Music. You can still watch Fire Shut Up In My Bones in movie theaters around the world and The Central Park Five is now available for streaming.

He has been applauded for the great balance of chiaroscuro in his voice and Opera News praised him for his “bright baritone“. Donovan returned to the Metropolitan Opera in the 2019-2020 season for the role of Jake in the Grammy Award winning opening production of Porgy and Bess. Other engagements that season included the roles of Crown in Atlanta Opera’s Porgy and Bess and Colline in Fort Worth Opera’s La Bohème, which was postponed due to the pandemic. Also combined in that season, the Bass-Baritone sang Jake in Porgy and Bess in the two productions produced by Dutch National Opera and English National Opera. In addition, he sang Crown in Porgy and Bess with Grange Park Opera in London.

Highlights of the 2018-2019 season included performances of Philip Glass’ Passages with the Pacific Symphony at Carnegie Hall and the role of Figaro in Minnesota Opera’s Le Nozze di Figaro. The 2017-2018 season, included performances as Leporello in Don Giovanni with Nashville Opera and he made his debut at Teatro alla Scala as Jake in Porgy and Bess under the baton of Alan Gilbert.

Other recent seasons are highlighted by performances with The Metropolitan Opera in productions of Giulio Cesare, Un Ballo in Maschera, Macbeth, Gianni Schicchi, Don Carlo, Pelleas & Melisande, Tosca, La Boheme, The Enchanted Island, The Tales of Hoffman, and The Bartered Bride. He has performed with Seattle Opera as Zuniga in Carmen, Monterone in Rigoletto, and Jake in Porgy and Bess where he provided “a beautiful and powerful bass-baritone.” (The Sun Break)

Donovan has portrayed the title role in Boito’s Mefistofele with Knoxville Opera, Achilla in Giulio Cesare, and Figaro in Le Nozze di Figaro with Fort Worth Opera where he was praised for his “comic timing and strong vocal presence.” (D Magazine)

He has lit up the concert stage in performances with the Deutsche Radio Philharmonic, the Latvian National Opera, the Orchestra Lamourez in Paris, and The Metropolitan Opera for the “Summer in the Parks” concert series. He made his debut at Carnegie Hall in Mark Hayes’ Te Deum and returned to sing Fauré’s Requiem and Haydn’s Paukenmesse that season. Soon after his debut season at Carnegie Hall, he returned again to sing Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass and Mozart’s Solemn Vespers.

Early in his career and as a young artist, Donovan joined Aspen Opera Theater in the title role of Don Giovanni and the Kentucky Opera as Leporello in Don Giovanni, where “in a role that requires both humor and empathy, Singletary gracefully pulls off both. His aria, “Madamina, il catalogo è questo” is both wry and sympathetic.” (louisville.com)

Donovan made his official professional debut as Hermann in The Tales of Hoffman as a Gerdine Young Artist and as Second Nazarene in Salome with the Metropolitan Opera. That season he also sang concerts with the Marina del Rey Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Florida Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Aspen Chamber Symphony.

He has won numerous national and international awards including the Metropolitan Opera National Council Grand Finals, where he was the youngest male competitor in the competition’s history to win America’s most important display of vocal talent. Upon winning the competition, the Met’s then-General Director, Joseph Volpe, bestowed on Donovan, the special Joseph Volpe Award.

Donovan is a graduate of the prestigious Lindemann Young Artist Development Program at The Metropolitan Opera

+ The Juilliard School, Stetson University, Mannes Conservatory, Sorbonne Université in Paris, Accademia di Italiano in Milan, and he studied in Vienna, Austria as a representative for the George London Foundation after winning the main prize in The George London vocal Competition.

Donovan is a fitness enthusiast, certified personal trainer, and gamer who enjoys French Bulldogs, anime, roller coasters, greek mythology, and anything horror.