"the most electrifying five minutes
I have ever spent in the theater."
-OPERA WIRE
Zachary James, 2022 Grammy Winner, described as a "true stage animal" by Opera News is an international opera, concert and cabaret singer, stage and screen actor and recording artist known for his “huge, robust bass” which “resonates with force” (Bach Track), “tremendous power and presence” (The Arts Desk, London) and “intrinsically beautiful”, “cavernous bass” with “oomph and range” (Opera News). Zach was named as the BroadwayWorld 2010-2020 Vocalist and Performer of the Decade, the 2019 Breakout Opera Artist of the Year by Verismo Magazine, The Most Innovative Opera Singer of 2019 by The Classical Post and was identified as an industry leader and accepted an invitation to become and official ambassador for Opera America. Zach started his career on Broadway and made his entrance into the opera world creating the role of Abraham Lincoln in the world premiere of Philip Glass’s opera The Perfect American at the Teatro Real in Madrid, a role he reprised for London’s English National Opera and Australia’s Opera Queensland and the Brisbane Festival. A winner of the Lotte Lenya Competition, Zach has been engaged by London’s English National Opera (Amenhotep III in the Olivier Award Winning production of Akhnaten, Abraham Lincoln in The Perfect American), Spain’s Teatro Real and Australia’s Opera Queensland (Abraham Lincoln in The Perfect American), LA Opera (Amenhotep III in Akhnaten), Opera Philadelphia (Terry in the world premiere of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Breaking the Waves), Des Moines Metro Opera (John Claggart in the Emmy Award winning broadcast production of Billy Budd, Vodnik in Rusalka), Arizona Opera (Fafner in Das Rheingold), Fort Worth Opera (The Ghost in Mark Adamo’s Avow), Opera Roanaoke (Olin Blitch in Susannah, Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Alidoro in La cenerentola, Judge Turpin in Sweeney Todd), Opera Ithaca (Bluebeard in Bluebeard’s Castle, Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance, Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni), Shreveport Opera (Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance), Anchorage Opera (Pooh-Bah in The Mikado), Union Avenue Opera (The Mikado in The Mikado), Schlossoper Haldenstein, Switzerland (Sparafucile in Rigoletto), Teatro Citta della Pieve (Oberon in the world premiere of Kristin Hevner’s Il Sogno), Central City Opera (Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni), Ash Lawn Opera (Il Bonzo in Madama Butterfly) and Knoxville Opera (Il Bonzo in Madama Butterfly, Gideon March in Little Women, Joe in The Most Happy Fella), Phoenicia International Festival of Voice (Howard in Do Not Go Gentle), Prototype Festival NYC (Señor del Norte in La Reina), Metropolis Opera Project (Oberon in the USA premiere of Il Sogno), Chutzpah Festival (Rebbe in A Blessing on the Moon), American Lyric Theatre (Mr. Beauregard in The Golden Ticket) and Illuminarts Miami (Bass Soloist in The Little Matchgirl Passion). 2018 debuts include the role of Frank Maurrant in Street Scene with Virginia Opera, Zaccaria in Nabucco with Union Avenue Opera, Fafner in Das Rheingold with Arizona Opera, The Ghost in Avow with Fort Worth Opera and more. In 2019 Zach returned to English National Opera for Akhnaten, made his Nashville Opera debut as the Four Villains in Les Contes D'Hoffmann and returned to Des Moines Metro Opera to play the Doctor in Wozzeck. Zach made his Metropolitan Opera debut in their 2019/2020 season reprising the role of Amenhotep III in the Olivier Award winning production of Akhnaten and returned to Opera Philadelphia to play The Cook in The Love For Three Oranges. Cancelled or postponed productions due to the ongoing Covid-19 global pandemic include Zach's Minnesota Opera debut in the world premiere of Edward Tulane, Florentine Opera debut as Banquo in Macbeth, Beethoven 9 with the Cape Symphony and Southern New Jersey Philharmonic and returns to Des Moines Metro Opera to sing Jupiter in Platee and Virginia Opera for The Pirates of Penzance. Zach returned to live performances in the summer of 2021 playing the title role in Man of La Mancha at Opera Saratoga, playing to record breaking crowds at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center amphitheater and continued on as The Monster in Young Frankenstein at the Ogunquit Playhouse, Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd with Opera Omaha and the immigration Officer in Flight with Dallas Opera. Future engagements include a return to The Metropolitan Opera for Akhnaten, the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance with Cincinnati Opera, the world premiere of Edward Tulane with Minnesota Opera, Tosca with LA Opera.
"Zachary James nails every bit
earning some of the night’s biggest laughs”
-NEW YORK MAGAZINE
As a Broadway actor, Zach created the role of Lurch in the Original Broadway Cast of The Addams Family, Thomas Hassinger in the Tony Award winning Original Broadway Revival Cast of South Pacific at Lincoln Center, and sang Handel’s Messiah in the 2007 National Theatre of London Broadway transfer, Coram Boy. In addition to originating in three Broadway shows, Zach played Off-Broadway as Pasquale in The Most Happy Fella and Jo-Jo in Irma la Douce both with Encores! at New York City Center. He has performed with theatre companies throughout the United States in roles including Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd, Miles Gloriosus in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, The Monster in Young Frankenstein, Billy in Carousel, Rapunzel’s Prince in Into The Woods, Abner in Li’l Abner, Squash in Victor, Victoria and Petr in The Toymaker at theatres including The Ogunquit Playhouse, The Bucks County Playhouse, The York Theatre, Theatre By The Sea, Pocono Playhouse, The Kitchen Theatre, Westport Country Playhouse, and The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Zach has appeared on TV as Carl on NBC's 30 Rock opposite Steve Martin and Tina Fey, Succession on HBO, Saturday Night Live on NBC, Murphy Brown on CBS, on the 2010 Tony Awards live from Radio City Music Hall, PBS Great Performances, Live from Lincoln Center, the Late Show with David Letterman, The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and on film as Ballion in The Gift. Zach's weekly talkshow, What Happened Was, launched on TDO Network in early 2021 and celebrates the best of Broadway, Opera and beyond with an all star lineup of guests. A Florida native, Zach is a graduate of the Musical Theatre program at Ithaca College in Ithaca, New York, where he was recently awarded the Outstanding Alumni Award. Additional studies include Florida State University, University of Tennessee Knoxville and the Goethe Institut in Berlin.
"exquisitely focused...startlingly beautiful”
-BROADWAY WORLD
Zach’s concert engagements include solo performances at Carnegie Hall, NYC’s Birdland, Don’t Tell Mama, Medicine Show and Joe’s Pub, Chicago’s Gorilla Tango, Noce Jazz Club in Des Moines, Civic Morning Musicals in Syracuse and performances with The Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of Maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin (Action in West Side Story, Bass Soloist in Bernstein’s Mass), NHK Symphony Orchestra Tokyo (Action in West Side Story), The New York Philharmonic under the direction of Maestro Alan Gilbert (Sweeney Todd), NYC Ballet (Brahms' Liebeslieder Walzer), American Symphony Orchestra (Kurt Weill Celebration), Symphony of the Mountains (Colline in La bohème), MasterVoices NYC (Samuel in The Pirates of Penzance) and Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (Buff in The Impresario). Zach's solo show about his time on the stages of NYC, Zachary James on Broadway, has been seen in Florida, Iowa, Alaska, Hawaii, New York and Pennsylvania and professionally filmed for digital release. The show won Zach both Vocalist of the Decade and Performer of the Decade in BroadwayWorld's 2020 Regional Awards.