Biography
Christopher Larkin has appeared as a guest conductor with many major opera companies throughout North America. His conducting credits include Washington National Opera (Samson et Dalila, I Puritani), New York City Opera (Don Giovanni, La Bohème), Santa Fe Opera (La Traviata), Houston Grand Opera (Tosca, Roméo et Juliette, Le Nozze di Figaro), Cincinnati Opera (La Fille du Régiment), and Portland Opera (Il Viaggio à Reims, Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Turn of the Screw), among others.
As interim Artistic Director of Ash Lawn Opera, he was responsible for all personnel and artistic matters for the 2010 season. In addition, he conducted the company’s highly acclaimed productions of both Don Giovanni and Brigadoon. Also, Maestro Larkin recently made his Wexford (Ireland) Festival Opera debut conducting Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah, a production that The Times (London) called “…the undoubted hit of the festival”. Other recent projects have included La Traviata at Nashville Opera, Little Women at Utah Opera, and William Bolcom’s A Wedding at the Oberlin Conservatory. Upcoming engagements include Britten’s Albert Herring at Florentine Opera, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and L’Heure Espagnole at the Oberlin Conservatory, and his company debut with Hawaii Opera Theater leading Dialogues des Carmélites of Poulenc.
Maestro Larkin also has considerable experience developing and conducting new works. He conducted the world premieres of Mark Adamo’s Little Women and Michael Daugherty’s Jackie O at Houston Grand Opera and led the East Coast premiere of Tod Machover’s Resurrection at Boston Lyric Opera. At Fort Worth Opera, he recently conducted Peter Eötvös’ Angels in America, and will return there this season for Three Decembers by Jake Heggie.
Training and developing young singers has always been of tremendous importance to Maestro Larkin, as shown by his work with the Houston Opera Studio, Wolf Trap Opera, Manhattan School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory, Indiana University, The New England Conservatory of Music and Oberlin Conservatory. For several summers he has conducted a program of opera scenes with the young singers at the New National Theatre inTokyo and has twice been invited by Marilyn Horne to conduct at The Music Academy of the West, leading Il Viaggio á Reims and La Bohème for that program.
As former Music Director of the New York City Opera National Company, Maestro Larkin has led national tours of Madama Butterfly and Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and in his work as Associate Conductor with Houston Grand Opera he conducted the critically acclaimed multi-media productions of Carmen, Madama Butterfly, and I Pagliacci.
Maestro Larkin has also worked as an Assistant Conductor and vocal coach with several major opera companies in North America, including the Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Vancouver Opera, and the Canadian Opera Company.
