With a voice described as having a “rich vocal range full of inviting nuance,” Malcolm MacKenzie is quickly capturing attention in the dramatic baritone repertoire. Opera News recently praised him as a “confident, commanding Count di Luna… of robust tone, ardent address, arching phrases and genuine baritonal squillo.” Mr. MacKenzie has been heard at leading opera houses throughout the U.S. and Europe, appearing at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, Paris Opera (Bastille), Finland’s Savonlinna Festival, Washington National Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, San Diego Opera, Arizona Opera, Fort Worth Opera, and Pittsburgh Opera, in roles including Simon Boccanegra, Iago, Tonio, Don Giovanni, Count di Luna, Renato, Jack Rance, Marcello, Germont, and Count Almaviva.
Upcoming engagements include a return to the Metropolitan Opera as Dancaïre in Carmen; returning to Dayton Opera as Tonio in I pagliacci; the title role in Rigoletto for Eugene Opera; and returning to Colorado Opera as Iago in Otello.
Recent engagements for Mr. MacKenzie have included creating the role of Roger Chillingworth in Colorado Opera’s world premiere of The Scarlet Letter by Lori Laitman; returning to LA Opera as Stubb in Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick; Enrico in Lucia di Lammermoor with Eugene Opera; Giorgio Germont in La traviata with Virginia Opera; and Schaunard in La bohème with San Diego Opera. He has also performed the title role in Simon Boccanegra with Kentucky Opera; Belcore in L’Elisir d’amore with San Diego Opera; Iago in Otello with Nashville Opera; Count di Luna in Il trovatore with Arizona Opera; Alfio/Tonio in Cavalleria rusticana/I pagliacci with Arizona Opera; and Jack Rance in La fanciulla del West with Nashville Opera.
Other performances have included La traviata with Glimmerglass Opera, in which Opera News described him as “a stentorian Germont, singing with a steely beauty that matched the character’s resolve;” Schaunard in La bohème for San Diego Opera; Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro with Sacramento Opera; Sharpless in Madama Butterfly for San Diego Opera; the baritone soloist for Horatio Parker’s rarely performed Hora Novissima with the Pacific Master Chorale; and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Reno Philharmonic.
On the concert stage, Mr. MacKenzie has performed frequently as the baritone soloist for Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, most recently with Los Angeles’ New West Symphony, the Symphony Orchestra of the University of California, Davis, and the Savannah Symphony. The UC Davis performance is available on YouTube and has received over 13 million views. He has also appeared with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, the Pacific Chorale, the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra, and the Madison Symphony.