American bass-baritone David Crawford has been hailed as a “standout” by The New York Times. During the 2024-2025 season he returned to Atlanta Opera to sing Schaunard in La bohème and The Metropolitan Opera to cover Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia. He recently sang Count Monterone in Rigoletto with Atlanta Opera and covered Zuniga in The Metropolitan Opera’s new production of Carmen.  In concert, he joined the Knoxville Symphony and gave a surprise debut with the Richmond Symphony, both as the bass soloist in Verdi’s Requiem.

 

Since making his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in 2007 as The Warrior Apparition in Macbeth, Mr. Crawford has taken part in over three hundred performances and covered roles in over two hundred performances with the company. His 2017 Met performance as Hermann and Schlémil in Les Contes d’Hoffmann was celebrated for his “thunderous bass-baritone” (The New York Classical Review). With recent seasons with the Metropolitan Opera, he has been seen in Dialogues des Carmélites, Turandot, Tosca, Don Giovanni, Macbeth, Wozzeck, and Der Rosenkavalier. In the 2016-2017 season, he appeared in over 50 performances in seven different operas with the company, highlights of which included the new production of Roméo et Juliette wherein “Crawford… preened about as a dandyish Paris” (The New York Classical Review), as well as the Sergeant in Manon Lescaut, Lord Walton in I puritani, and the Captain in Eugene Onegin. In past seasons, Mr. Crawford appeared as Rochefort in Anna Bolena, Count Ceprano in Rigoletto, a Mandarin in Turandot, the Commissioner in Madama Butterfly, Hermann/Schlemiel in Les Contes d'Hoffmann, Count Horn in Un ballo in maschera, Schmidt in Andrea Chénier, Hector’s Ghost in Les Troyens, the High Priest of Baal in Nabucco, Happy in La fanciulla del West, Astarotte in Armida, the Wigmaker in Ariadne auf Naxos, and Angelotti and the Jailer in Tosca.

 

With the Atlanta Opera, Mr. Crawford has performed the roles of The Bonze in Madama Butterfly, Achilla in Giulio Cesare, Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Zuniga in Carmen, and Lord Capulet in Roméo et Juliette.  Other engagements include Schaunard in La bohème and Betto in Gianni Schicchi with the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy, Blitch in Susannah with Marble City Opera, Monterone in Rigoletto with Nashville Opera and Florida Grand Opera, Sam in Trouble in Tahiti with the Tucson Symphony, Zuniga with Santa Fe Opera, and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor and The Bonze with Knoxville Opera. For his Don Basilio with Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Musical Intelligencer stated that "David Crawford’s rich, dark bass was perfect for the unconvincingly sinister music teacher Don Basilio." Past engagements include Banquo in Macbeth and William Jennings Bryan in The Ballad of Baby Doe with Chautauqua Opera, Caspar in Der Freischütz with Des Moines Metro Opera, and the King in Transformations with Wexford Festival Opera. In concert, he has appeared as the bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah with Nashville Symphony and Mozart’s Requiem with Knoxville Symphony, and has appeared in concert with Opera Omaha.

 

A native of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, Mr. Crawford received a Bachelor of Music degree from Ohio Wesleyan University and a Master of Music from Boston University. Earlier in his career, he participated in highly regarded young artists programs with Seattle Opera, Florida Grand Opera, the Merola Program at San Francisco Opera, Chautauqua Opera, Utah Festival Opera, and Sarasota Opera, where he was the recipient of the 2007 Bradenton Opera Guild Award.