Baritone Kurt Loft Willett has performed extensively in concert, oratorio and opera throughout
the United States. With the American Opera Center he has been heard as Bottom (A Midsummer Night's Dream), the title
role in the New York Premiere of Jakob Lenz, and John Proctor (The Crucible). With Glimmerglass Opera, Kurt
sang the role of Vicar Gedge (Albert Herring), of which Bernard Holland wrote "But it was the Vicar here, Kurt
Loft Willett, who learned Britten's lesson best: every word was musically sung and perfectly understandable to his listeners."
Performances include Count Almaviva (Le Nozze di Figaro), Renato (Un ballo in maschera), Sharpless (Madama
Butterfly), Don Carlo (La forza del destino), Guglielmo (Cosi fan tutte), Escamillo (Carmen),
Enrico (Lucia di Lammermoor), Amonasro (Aida), Marcello (La Boheme), and Rigoletto.
Kurt
has been a featured soloist in opera, symphonic and oratorio literature with the Alabama, Buffalo, Charleston, Charlotte,
Delaware, Greenville, Lincoln, Monterey, Nashville, National Philharmonic, South Bend, Springfield, Virginia and Wallingford symphonies
as well as numerous choral societies nationwide. Kurt made his Carnegie Hall debut with Mahler's Symphony No. 8 and
his Metropolitan Opera House debut singing Orff’s Carmina Burana with the American Ballet Theatre. A recitalist
in repertoire spanning both classical and popular music, Kurt holds both his Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the
Juilliard School.
Recent engagements include Gounod's Messe solennelle de Ste. Cecile
with the Chorus of Westerly (RI).
Kurt can be heard on disc singing Orff's Carmina burana with
the Jacksonville Symphony, recorded on the Telarc label and released in April of 2006.