Lawrence Brownlee - Career

Career

Brownlee’s professional stage debut took place in 2002 as Almaviva in Rossini's The Barber of Seville with Virginia Opera. Brownlee made his Metropolitan Opera debut in a new production of Il Barbiere di Siviglia in 2007. The role has since become one of his most recognizable and famous. He has subsequently appeared in Il Barbiere in Vienna, Milan, Berlin, Madrid, Dresden, Munich, Baden-Baden, Hamburg, Tokyo, New York, Washington, San Diego, Seattle, and Boston. Brownlee's career highlights include performances of The Barber of Seville at the Vienna State Opera, the Boston Lyric Opera and Madrid's Teatro Real. He has appeared in Rossini's L'italiana in Algeri, and La Cenerentola at Milan's La Scala, as Belfiore in Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims in Brussels and as Tonio in Donizetti's La fille du régiment at the Cincinnati Opera. In concert, Brownlee has performed in Handel's Messiah with the Houston Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony. He has given recitals under the auspices of the Marilyn Horne Foundation, and was featured in one of that Foundation's Gala Concerts at Lincoln Center. In a departure from his usual repertoire, he created the role of Syme in Lorin Maazel's opera 1984 in its world premiere at London's Royal Opera House on May 3, 2005. He has also received acclaim in Rossini's Armida, alongside Renée Fleming and in the famously challenging role of Tonio in La fille du régiment, both at the Metropolitan Opera.

In May 2010, Brownlee performed a concert with mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves in the United States Supreme Court Building for the Supreme Court justices.