‘Kramer showed both baritone heft and tenorial ring, reminding me a bit of a Met stalwart of a bygone era, James McCracken-- Normanno in the mid 1950s, Otello a decade later. Who knows where Kramer's voice will take him?’
-Patrick Dillo, Opera Canada
Acclaimed for his ‘vocal heft’ and ‘brilliance of sound’, as well as his ‘engaging stage presence’, Tenor Adrian Kramer has earned critical praise in recent seasons with companies throughout Canada, the United States and Germany.
In the 2023/2024 season Mr. Kramer returns to Opera Omaha on the concert stage as part of their Opera Outdoors series, and makes his debut with The Israeli Opera as The Prince in Dvorak’s Rusalka. Other upcoming engagements include a role debut as Tom Rakewell in a new production of Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress with Opera Omaha.
The 2022/23 season saw Adrian in several critically acclaimed debuts, including his house and role debut as Cavaradossi in Tosca with Opera San José, and his house and role debut as Hoffegut in a new production of Braunfels Die Vögel with Pacific Opera Victoria. Adrian joined the roster of the Metropolitan Opera, covering the role of Steuermann in Der fliegende Holländer and at the Hogfish Summer Festival he returned to the role of Don José in a new adaptation of Bizet’s Carmen, CarmXn, which included music and arrangements written and performed by Adrian himself.
The 2021-22 season marked his European operatic debut with the Komische Oper Berlin as Toby Higgins in a new Barrie Kosky production of Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny, and in the titular role, as well as Iaryzhkin, and a Eunuch, in Barrie Kosky’s acclaimed production of Die Nase. He returned to San Diego Opera to sing Tybalt in Roméo et Juliette, and made his Cape Symphony debut as the tenor soloist in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Further engagements that were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic included performances of Narraboth in Salome and Don José in Carmen at Opera San José, Steuermann in Der fliegende Holländer with Lake Area Music Festival, Spoletta in Tosca with Opera Philadelphia, First Armored Man/Second Priest in Die Zauberflöte at San Diego Opera, and Pinkerton (cover) in Madama Butterfly with both Opera Philadelphia and Saratoga Opera.
During the 2018-19 season Adrian made his debut at Opera Philadelphia as Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor, and at Edmonton Opera as Ralph Rackstraw in HMS Pinafore. He returned to Opera Omaha as Gérard in a new production of Philip Glass's Les enfants terribles, and made his off-Broadway debut in collaboration with Ensemble for the Romantic Century as the Tenor in Tchaikovsky: None But the Lonely Heart.
Additional credits include an especially successful house and role debut as Don José in La tragedie de Carmen at San Diego Opera (2017); his house and role debuts as Bill in Jonathan Dove's Flight (2017), and as Joe in the company premiere of La fanciulla del West (2016), both at Opera Omaha; and at Santa Fe Opera (2015), where he performed Borsa in Rigoletto, the Second Nazarene in Salome, Owen's Son in the world premiere of Jennifer Higdon's Cold Mountain, and the Second Bodyguard in the American premiere of Huang Ruo's Dr. Sun Yat-sen.
A seasoned performer on the concert stage, Mr. Kramer's oratorio and symphonic repertoire includes Elijah (Kingston Symphony Orchestra), Vaughan Williams' Hodie (Talisker Players), Beethoven's Ninth Symphony (Cape Symphony, Canzona Chamber Players Orchestra), and Messiah (Sault Symphony Orchestra). He has performed as a soloist in opera concert programs with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, the Glenn Gould Studio, and the Kingston Symphony Orchestra.
Initially training and performing as a baritone, Adrian’s credits in that repertoire include performances at Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Chicago Opera Theater, Canadian Opera Company, Castleton Festival, Cal Performances, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Saskatoon Opera, and Glimmerglass Opera.
He was awarded the Campbell Wachter Memorial Award for Singers from Santa Fe Opera, the Grand Prize at the Louis Quilico Competition, and was the winner of the Juilliard Honors Recital Competition. Adrian is supported by the Olga Forrai Foundation, and the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and the Jacqueline Desmarais Foundation. Adrian was a Vocal Fellow at the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, and has fulfilled residencies with Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Program, Canadian Opera Company Ensemble, and Glimmerglass Festival Young Artist Program. Adrian is an alumnus of the Curtis Institute of Music and of the Juilliard School, where he earned his M.Mus M.Mus in Opera and his B.Mus in Voice, respectively.
In the genres of pop and country music Adrian has written, performed and self-produced ten albums as Adrian Ira. His designs and visual art have been featured in opera productions and galleries in Toronto and Omaha. He is represented by Guy Barzilay Artists.