Alumnus Carlton Ford returned to Interlochen Arts Academy to work with voice students, and he also paid a visit to IPR to sing works by Grieg, Ravel and Tosti.
American baritone Carlton Ford, acclaimed by Paris’ Regard En Coulisse for his “generous vocal power,” is a graduate of both The Juilliard School and Rice University. Mr. Ford’s 2012/13 season saw debuts with the New York Philharmonic, Crested Butte Music Festival as Kaiser Overall in Victor Ullmann’s Der Kaiser von Atlantis, and Le Théâtre du Châtelet as Dewain in John Adams’ I Was Looking At The Ceiling And Then I Saw The Sky. During his 2013/14 season, Carlton will debut with the New York Philharmonic’s Alan Gilbert in HK Gruber’s Gloria - A Pig's Tale in May 2014.
In the 2011/12 season, Carlton made his Houston Grand Opera debut as Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia and sang John in the world premiere of Houston Grand Opera’s New Arrivals. Other highlights included his debut on PBS’ ‘Great Performances’ series. The PBS broadcast marked his Carnegie Hall debut during the 2008 opening night gala, A Celebration of Leonard Bernstein, under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas, alongside Yo-Yo Ma, Dawn Upshaw and Thomas Hampson, which was filmed for PBS and released on DVD. Carlton can also be seen and heard on the Emmy nominated Live from Lincoln Center’s broadcast of Carousel with the New York Philharmonic, and the Oscar nominated HBO series Masterclass with Plácido Domingo.
In previous seasons, he has sung Marcello in La bohème under George Manahan and Fiorello in Il barbiere di Siviglia under Josep Caballé-Domenech at the Aspen Music Festival. While studying at Rice University and The Juilliard School, Carlton sang Gugliemo in Così fan tutte, Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Marcello in La bohème, and Ottone in L’incoronazione di Poppea. Other operatic credits include Voltore in Musto’s Volpone as a guest artist at Rice University and Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette with the Southern Illinois Festival. During three seasons as a Gerdine Young Artist at the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, he sang Cappadocian in Salome, Uncle Yakuside in Madama Butterfly and covered Schaunard in La bohème, Lisargo in Una cosa rara, Yashvin in Anna Karenina and Pish-Tush in The Mikado. As a member of the Chautauqua Voice Program he appeared as Dancaïro in Carmen and Hermann in Les contes d’Hoffmann at the Chautauqua Institute.
Carlton has also been heard as soloist in the Brahms and Fauré Requiems as well as Dubois’ Seven Last Words of Christ and Handel’s Messiah. He has appeared in recital with Brian Zeger, Mikael Eliasen, and regularly performs with Steven Blier, Michael Barrett and the New York Festival of Song. Carlton has been a featured soloist with the Da Camera Ensemble and the Bach Society of Houston. Carlton sang with the Bach Society of Houston in Cantatas 234 and 20, recorded for National Public Radio Houston.
Carlton was a finalist in Houston Grand Opera’s 2012 Eleanor McCollum Competition, and a recipient of both First Place and Grand Prize in Chicago’s 2011 Bel Canto Foundation Competition.
A native of Chicago, Illinois, Carlton is a studio artist with the Florida Grand Opera.