About
Called “one of the most versatile singing artists performing today” (Bachtrack), Will Liverman is quickly gaining a reputation for his compelling performances, while making significant debuts at opera houses across the world. Liverman is a recipient of a 2019 Sphinx Medal of Excellence.
Liverman makes his Metropolitan Opera debut this season as Malcolm Fleet in Nico Muhly’s Marnie. Additionally this season, he appears with Tulsa Opera as The Pilot in The Little Prince, with Philadelphia Opera and Dallas Opera as Schaunard in La bohème, with the Prototype Festival as the Sorcerer/Blue Demon in Mila, Great Sorcerer, and with Santa Fe Opera as the Foreman at the Mill in Jenůfa and Schaunard in La bohème.
Liverman has performed the leading role of Figaro in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia with Seattle Opera, Virginia Opera, Kentucky Opera, Madison Opera and Utah Opera. He originated the role of Dizzy Gillespie in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird with Opera Philadelphia, in addition to performing the role with English National Opera, at the Apollo Theater, and with Lyric Opera of Chicago and Madison Opera. Other recent highlights include the role of Tommy McIntyre in the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s production of Fellow Travelers for its Lyric Unlimited initiative; Papageno in The Magic Flute with Florentine Opera and Central City Opera; his role debut as Marcello in La bohème with Portland Opera; his debut with Seattle Opera as Raimbaud in Le Comte Ory; Tarquinius in The Rape of Lucretia and Beaumarchais in The Ghosts of Versailles with Wolf Trap Opera; Andrew Hanley in the world premiere of Kevin Puts’ The Manchurian Candidate with Minnesota Opera; Sam in The Pirates of Penzance with Atlanta Opera; the Husband in Les mamelles de Tirésias with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago; the Protestant Minister in Menotti’s The Last Savage with Santa Fe Opera; and Mr. Noye in Noye’s Fludde as a guest artist at Wheaton College.
Expanding into the concert repertoire, Liverman performed the title role in a concert version of the Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, and was a featured soloist in Brahms’Requiem with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, in Handel’s Messiah with the Seattle Symphony, in Carmina Burana with the Virginia Symphony, in Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago,in Orff’s Carmina Burana and Handel’s Messiah as a guest artist at the University of Chicago, in Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with the South Dakota Symphony, and at the New York Festival of Song, in addition to returning to his alma mater Wheaton College as part of the Artist Concert Series together with tenor Larry Brownlee.
Liverman concluded his tenure at the prestigious Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2015, during which he sang the roles of Figaro and Fiorello in special family performances of Il barbiere di Siviglia, Marquis in La traviata, Frazier in Porgy and Bess, and a Servant in Capriccio, and covered the roles of the Registrar in Madama Butterfly, Yvan in Die Fledermaus, Brühlmann in Werther, and the Sergeant in La bohème. His additional performances presented by the company include scenes of La bohème and Le nozze di Figaro with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.
Additionally, as a Young Artist at the Glimmerglass Festival, he sang the roles of the Sacristan in Tosca and Mr. Jenks in The Tender Land. At the Juilliard School, he was featured in the leading role of James Meredith in Peter Maxwell Davies’ opera, Kommilitonen!, under the direction of the work’s librettist, David Poutney, and the roles of Marco in Gianni Schicchi and Liberto in L’incoronazione di Poppea.
In 2017, Liverman received a 3Arts Award, a George London Award, and was recognized as a classical division Luminarts Fellow by the Luminarts Cultural Foundation. In 2015, he won the Stella Maris International Vocal Competition, received the Gerda Lissner Charitable Fund Award, won third prize in the Lissner Foundation’s Lieder/Song Competition, and received a top prize from Opera Index. He was a grand finalist in the 2012 Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions, a second place regional winner in Chicago, and a third place regional winner in New York. He additionally was a three-time first prize winner of the Chicago National Association of Teachers of Singing Competition, first prize winner in the Gerda Lissner International Vocal Competition, a grand prize winner of the Bel Canto Foundation Competition, a recipient of a Sara Tucker Study Grant from the Richard Tucker Music Foundation, and a top award winner from the William Matheus Sullivan Musical Foundation.
He holds his Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School, and a Bachelor of Music degree from Wheaton College in Illinois.