Livermore Valley Opera Bios

Baritone Austin Kness, a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is currently a second-year Adler Fellow with the San Francisco Opera where he has sung Marco (Gianni Schicchi), 2nd Nazarene (Salome), A Herald (Otello), Sciarrone (Tosca) and Marquis d’Obigny (La Traviata) with the Company in 2009.  Upcoming roles with SFO in 2010 include Wagner (Faust), Bello (La Fanciulla del West), and Prince Yamadori (Madama Butterfly). An alumnus of the Merola Opera Program, he performed the title role in Merola's 2008 production of Don Giovanni.

Kness received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Northern Iowa and is pursuing a master’s degree at Indiana University. He has performed with Indiana University Opera Theater as Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Don Giovanni, Escamillo (Carmen), and Eddie Carbone (A View from the Bridge). His concert credits include Carmina Burana with the Vallejo Symphony, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis with the University of Indiana and the Brahms Requiem with the Bloomington Chamber Singers. Kness is a former member of the Des Moines Metro Opera Apprentice Program (2006–07), where he performed the roles of Moralès (Carmen) and Count Ceprano (Rigoletto).

The baritone has also sung the roles of Fiorello (Il Barbiere di Siviglia) and Moralès with Cedar Rapids Opera Theater. Kness was a finalist in the West Palm Beach Voice Competition in 2007 and participated in the Kennedy Center Conservatory Project in 2008, where he represented the IU Jacobs School of Music.