Matthew Worth

Baritone Matthew Worth earned critical plaudits and rose to prominence in the 2010s with appearances in several major contemporary operas. He has also specialized in works by Mozart, French opera of the 19th century, and American musical theater. Worth was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on June 20, 1978, and attended schools in the suburb of West Hartford, where his parents were schoolteachers. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Richmond in Virginia, playing jazz trombone in the university band as well as studying voice. Worth went on for a master's degree in voice from the Manhattan School of Music, and then to the Julliard Opera Center. While still at Juilliard, he made his debut at Carnegie Hall under conductor James DePreist in a performance of the Brahms German Requiem, Op. 45, and later appeared at New York's Alice Tully Hall in Orff's Carmina Burana with the Richmond Choral Society. Worth has appeared in several major operatic world premieres, including those of Marc Neikrug's Healing Ceremony (2013), opposite mezzo-soprano Susan Graham, and David T. Little's JFK (2016), as well as that of Richard Danielpour's oratorio The Passion of Yeshua (2018). He has appeared in many other contemporary operas. Worth's repertory of standard operas is large, ranging from Guglielmo in Mozart's Così fan tutte, K. 588, to Tarquinius in Benjamin Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, the latter under conductor Lorin Maazel. His symphonic concert appearances include those with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Boston Pops, and the Atlanta Symphony. Worth is also an enthusiastic performer of lieder who was featured in Schumann's Dichterliebe, Op. 48, at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, and has appeared in productions of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals Carousel (as Billy Bigelow) and Oklahoma! Worth made his recording debut on the 2020 Naxos recording of The Passion of Yeshua. ~ James Manheim