
Bass-Baritone
..."he sings like a god."
October 14-30
Don Pizarro in Fidelio
San Francisco Opera
November 20- January 15
Wotan in Die Walküre
Royal Swedish Opera
February 10-13
Wotan in Die Walküre
Baltimore Symphony Orchestra
April 1- 20
Orest in Elektra
Metropolitan Opera
May 13-15
Philip in Don Carlo
Maryland Lyric Opera
July 31
Wanderer in Act 3 of Siegfried
Festspielhaus in Bregenz, Austria
Der Ring des Nibelungen – “No amount of cynicism can mask the fact that there are not many Wotans out there today capable of singing a full Ring cycle with anything approaching adequacy. It was, therefore, a pleasure to hear Greer Grimsley first assay the role in Seattle in 2005, and what was then a promising Wotan has now become The Genuine Article in all of its splendor and glory. He acts as about as well as a Wotan can act, but he sings…well…like a God. The role lies in the heart of his vocal range, and he sings with a rare combination of power and suavity. The world has waited for a very long time for a Wotan who can sing without barking or rasping, and he has arrived.”
Die Walküre – “Grimsley’s steely bass-baritone rang with authority and purposeful diction and bore up well through a punishingly long series of expository monologues. (You wouldn’t think a god would have to explain himself so much.) Yet he still had the strength to be tender in his parting with Brünnhilde at opera’s end.”
Der fliegende Holländer – “Leading Wagnerian bass-baritone Greer Grimsley reigned at the center of the performance as the Dutchman, towering physically and vocally with a resonantly powerful voice and range matched by an appropriately harrowing stage presence. Wagner immediately throws two extended passages into the role, a challenge Grimsley took up faultlessly, nailing both ends of the range flawlessly.”
Der Ring des Nibelungen – “As Wotan, bass-baritone Greer Grimsley was a swaggering captain of industry; singing with forceful dark power, he was in suave, commanding voice.”
Sweeney Todd – “Veteran bass-baritone Greer Grimsley sang the title role of the murderous barber as though it had been written for him. Dark, brooding and humorless, he convincingly conveyed the inner demons that have been torturing Todd's soul for many years.”