About
Praised for “Confidence”, “Brightness” and “High level of Control” (Operawire), Matthew Pearce is a graduate of the Cafritz Young Artist Program at the Washington National Opera who hails from Lexington, Kentucky.
In the 2024-2025 season, the acclaimed spinto will make debuts with Chicago Opera Theatre as Don Pizzarro in the North American premiere of Leonora by Ferdinando Paer, and with Pacific Opera Victoria in Rigoletto as the Duke of Mantua. He will also be joining West Virginia Symphony for their concert performance of Carmen.
In the 2023-2024 season, Mr. Pearce debuted as Lennie in Of Mice and Men with Livermore Valley Opera and performed as a soloist with Dallas Symphony in Das Buch mit Sieben Siegeln and Chattanooga Symphony in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
In the 2022-2023 season, Mr. Pearce appeared as Don José in Denyce Graves’ production of Carmen at both The Glimmerglass Festival and Portland Opera. He also joined Opera Theatre of Saint Louis for the workshop and premiere of Slanted: An American Rock Opera.
In previous seasons, Mr. Pearce performed as Don José in Francesca Zambello’s production of Carmen conducted by Evan Rogister at Washington National Opera and participated in the Kennedy Center Honors in a tribute for Justino Díaz.
Additionally, he performed the role of Monostatos in the Maurice Sendak production of Die Zauberflöte and the First Philistine in Samson et Dalila conducted by John Fiore at Washington National Opera. He also sang the Guard in the world premiere of David Lang’s new opera, prisoner of the state, with the New York Philharmonic under the baton of Jaap van Zweden at David Geffen Hall.
Other highlights include performances of John Corigliano’s Poem in October with the Juilliard Orchestra and Juilliard’s AXIOM ensemble led by Jeffrey Milarsky and a début at David Geffen Hall for the New York premiere of Angela Rice’s Easter Oratorio Thy Will be Done with the National Chorale. Additionally, Mr. Pearce had the honor of performing The Magician in a reduced version of The Consul at the U.S. Supreme Court for the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Mr. Pearce spent two seasons at the Chautauqua Institution where he appeared as Don José in Carmen and Tebaldo in I Capuleti e i Montecchi.
Outside of performing, Mr. Pearce is an accomplished teacher, teaching masterclasses and seminars at universities across the country and serves on the board of OperaLex, an organization dedicated to supporting students of opera at the University of Kentucky.