Rod Gilfry: The Baritone Bartender

Rod Gilfry is a professional opera singer, two-time Grammy nominee, actor, and voice teacher, and is acclaimed world-wide in opera, musicals, recitals and cabaret. He has performed in all the world's music capitals, and appears on over 30 recordings. An important part of his 75-role repertoire are the 12 leading roles he has created in new operas. These include David Lang's solo opera the loser with The Los Angeles Opera, and the Metropolitan Opera’s production of Thomas Adés’s The Exterminating Angel. Despite cancellations due to COVID, Rod has upcoming performances with Renee Fleming, the Metropolitan Opera, and more. Rod is in his 12th* year as a Professor of Vocal Arts at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music in Los Angeles.

Outside of the musical world, Rod has become a true renaissance man, cultivating the skills of mixology with his full-scale home-bar, and he has even learned how to weld and shape metal.

Rod was my voice teacher at USC for two years, and it was both a joy and an honor to work with him. Despite being an absolute master of his craft, he wouldn’t hesitate to strike up a conversation about a NASA space-launch, and all the sophisticated science that goes into it. He is truly one-of-a-kind. Please welcome Rod Gilfry.