Paul LaRosa is in his third and final year as a member of the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.  During the 2011-12 season at the Lyric Opera of Chicago the artist performs as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte for the Student Matinee performances, Hermann in Les contes d’Hoffmann, and covers Harlequin in Ariadne auf Naxos, Papageno in the main stage production of Die Zauberflöte, Ravenal in Showboat, and Nikitich in Boris Godunov.  Mr. LaRosa returns to the Chicago Opera Theatre as Boris in Shostakovich’s Moscow, Cheryomushki and debuts at Central City Opera as the villainous Jud Fry in Oklahoma! 

Mr. LaRosa’s performances of recent seasons at the Lyric Opera of Chicago have included Kuligin in Káta Kabanová conducted by Markus Stenz, Cascada in The Merry Widow conducted by Emmanuel Villaume, and Morales in Carmen conducted by Alain Altinoglu. With the Ryan Opera Center, he was Dandini in student matinee performances of La cenerentola and, for his debut with the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis, he performed the roles of Rambo/Officer in John Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer directed by James Robinson and conducted by Michael Christie.  In a return engagement with the Castleton Festival, the artist reprised the role of Don Quijote in Falla’s Master Peter’s Puppet Show and bowed as the Armchair in L’enfant et les sortilèges, both under the baton of Lorin Maazel.  Recent symphonic debuts include a concert presentation of Bernstein’s Candide, singing the role of Maximilian, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and conductor Bramwell Tovey, as well as Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem under the baton of Lorin Maazel with the Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana. 

A graduate of The Juilliard Opera Center, Mr. LaRosa appeared there in numerous productions singing such diverse roles as Adam Ochsenschwanz in Krenek’s Die Ehre der Nation under James Conlon, Ford in Verdi’s Falstaff in a production by Stephen Wadsworth conducted by Keri-Lynn Wilson, Rambo in Adams’ The Death of Klinghoffer under the baton of the composer, and Raimbaud in Rossini’s Le Comte Ory.  He has been heard as Junius in Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia for the Chateauville Foundation under the baton of Lorin Maazel, as Curio in Handel’s Giulio Cesare at Glimmerglass Opera as a member of their Young American Artists Program, and as Dandini in Rossini’s La cenerentola during a summer residency with the San Francisco Opera Merola Program.  Paul LaRosa also has performed with Steven Blier under the auspices of the New York Festival of Song.

Mr. LaRosa was graduated from Williams College with Bachelor of Philosophy and Bachelor of English degrees.