Stephen Dupont has earned international recognition as a basso profundo, appearing with such companies as the Metropolitan Opera, La Scala, Paris Opera, Cologne Opera, Hamburg State Opera, The Washington Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and the Glyndebourne Festival.

After receiving a bachelor's degree in music from Memphis State University and studying privately with Armen Boyajian, Stephen Dupont made his professional operatic debut in 1984, singing the role of the Secret Police Agent in Menotti's The Consul in Palermo. During the same year he appeared in Menotti's La Loca at the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, and as the Speaker in Die Zauberflote at New York City Opera, where he later returned as Sarastro and as Sparafucile. As a winner of the Pavarotti/ Opera Company of Philadelphia Vocal Competition, he sang opposite Luciano Pavarotti in Philadelphia and in Modena in 1986.

In 1985, Mr. Dupont made his debut with The Washington Opera in Rossini's L'Italiana in Algeri. He returned to the Kennedy Center as Sobakin in Rimsky-Korsakov's rarely performed The Tsar's Bride, conducted by Mstislav Rostropovich and directed by Galina Vishnevskaya, and to create the role of Godoy in the world premiere of Menotti's Goya with Placido Domingo. The premiere was nationally televised by PBS in its "Great Performances" series.

Mr. Dupont made his Metropolitan Opera debut as Colline in La Boheme during the 1986-87 season. He has since been heard at the Met as Zuniga in Carmen, the friar in Don Carlos, both the King and Ramfis in Aida, and Sparafucile in Rigoletto, which he sang in the Met's live Saturday afternoon radio broadcast. He has been especially identified with the role of Sparafucile, singing it in Washington, Bonn, Cologne, and in concert at Carnegie Hall, with the Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Riccardo Muti.

Mr. Dupont sang under Maestro Muti again in Nabucco, also at Carnegie Hall, and in Don Giovanni at La Scala in 1987, making his debut there as the Commendatore in a new production directed by Giorgio Strehler. He has reprised the role of the Commendatore in Miami, Hamburg, Philadelphia, Strasbourg, the Glyndebourne Festival, and Toronto, where he performed the rare feat of singing both Masetto and the Commendatore in the same performance.

In Paris, Mr. Dupont's work has included productions of Rameau's Hippolyte et Aricie with William Christie and Les Arts Florissants at the Opera Comique, Rigoletto at the Paris Opera, and Don Giovanni at the Theatre de Champs Elysees, where he sang the role of Masetto in the Mozart cycle conducted by Daniel Barenboim and directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle.

Other operatic engagements have included productions of Die Zauberflote in Strasbourg, Turandot and Macbeth in Miami, Eugene Onegin in Santiago, Carmen in London, Aida in Vancouver, Don Carlos in Tulsa and Louisville, Otello in Seattle, and War and Peace in Spoleto. Mr. Dupont recently sang all the major bass roles, Fafner, Hunding, and Hagen, in two complete cycles of Wagner's Ring with the Arizona Opera.

He has also performed extensively in concert repertoire, including the Verdi Requiem with the Teatro la Fenice orchestra in Venice and the Buffalo Philharmonic, and Beethoven's Ninth Symphony with the Minnesota and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras, under Neville Mariner and Lorin Maazel respectively. He has recorded for Chandos Records. Mr. Dupont was born in Houston, Texas, and currently resides with his wife in New York City.

Repertoire:

Sarastro, Osmin, Commendatore, Masetto, Basilio, Hagen, Fafner, Hunding, King Henry, Daland, Sprecher, Don Fernando, Rocco, First Nazarene, Pimen, Gremin, Sobakin (Tsar's Bride), Fiesco, Silva, Banquo, Ramfis, Sparafucile, Ferrando, Lodovico, Grand Inquisitor, Padre Guardiano, Colline, Jake Wallace, Timur, Verdi Requiem, Mozart Requiem, Missa Solemnis, Beethoven Ninth Symphony

Stephen Dupont