Craig Price

American Bass-Baritone Craig Philip Price has been praised on stage and in competition for his “versatile voice”, and “gorgeous and unique timbre”. He made his professional debut as a Bonfils-Stanton apprentice artist with Central City Opera during the 2007 season.

​Since then he has appeared with orchestras and opera companies across the United States, including Charlottesville Opera, Opera Saratoga, Kentucky Opera, University of Kentucky Schmidt Opera Outreach, FBN Productions, Owensboro Symphony, Carolina Master Chorale, the Florence Masterworks Choir, and many more.

This past season Mr. Price will sang the role of Olin Blitch in Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah with Opera at USC. In concert he sang the baritone solos in a performance of the Saint-Saëns Christmas Oratorio, the bass solos in Handel’s Messiah, and gave a performance of Bach’s Cantata for Bass, ‘Ich Habe Genug’ as part of the premiere performance of the Bach Ascending concert series in Savannah, GA. Other recent performances include the roles of Chief of Police in Menotti’s Amelia Al Ballo, Harašta/Parson in Janáček’s The Cunning Little Vixen, and Slook in Rossini’s Il Matrimonio di Cambiale with Opera at USC. He also appeared as the Bass Soloist/Street Singer in University of South Carolina’s landmark staging of Leonard Bernstein’s MASS in commemoration of the Bernstein Centennial, performed Bach’s Der Friede Sei Mit Dir (BWV 158) at Faith Lutheran Church in Lexington, KY, and was the bass soloist for performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Florence Masterworks Choir (Florence, SC).

He has frequently been broadcast on Kentucky NPR’s Kentucky Center Stage program as a featured soloist with the acclaimed choirs of Christ Church Cathedral (Lexington, KY), and recently had his performance of Bach’s landmark cantata ‘Ich Habe Genug’ presented in its entirety on that broadcast as well. His performance of the Bach served as the launch to the Harstad Fine Arts Series (Lexington, KY) in April of 2016.

Mr. Price has been recognized in many competitions including NATS, Classical Singer Magazine, and more. He was previously named the winner of the Wagner Prize (3rd Place) at the Orpheus National Music Competition for Voice in 2012. He is a past recipient of an encouragement award from the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions.

As an advocate for arts education, Mr. Price has performed in over 200 school outreach performances. Also an avid supporter of the creation and performance of new American music, Mr. Price is pleased to have been active in Manhattan School of Music's American Music Productions (AMP), as well as the Page to Stage program with Opera Index and American Opera Projects, which workshops pieces in development by American composers. He was honored to take part in celebrating the career of legendary American composer Carlisle Floyd in 2011 as a guest performer for his induction into South Carolina's State Hall of Fame.

Other notable performances include performing the Bird in the world premiere performance of Seymour Barab's Everyone Has to be Free with AMP and singing the part of ‘Christ’ in the John Stainer Crucifixion at the famed St. Patrick's Cathedral on Fifth Ave in New York.

In addition to his career as a performer, he is a passionate teacher of voice. His students have been recognized at state and regional solo festivals, NATS competitions, have been selected for Governor’s School for the Arts and All-State Choir, and have consistently been awarded admission and significant scholarships to major college music programs. He has previously served as Instructor of Voice at Claflin University, and is currently Professor of Voice at Furman University.

He is a native of South Carolina where he earned a BM in Voice from Furman University as a student of Trudy Hines Fuller. He holds a MM in Voice from Manhattan School of Music, where he was a student of Neil Rosenshein.

He recently received his doctoral degree in voice at the University of South Carolina as a student of Jacob Will.