This season, bass-baritone Christian Van Horn returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago as Nourabad in The Pearl Fishers and made his debut at the Bayersiche Staatsoper as Colline in La Bohème. Upcoming opera engagements include Oroveso in Norma, the Bonze in Madama Butterfly, and the Voice of Neptune in Idomeno at the Bayerische Staatsoper, his debut at the Salzburg Easter Festival with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, and a return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago in La Damnation de Faust. Mr. Van Horn recently made his debuts at the Salzburg Festival as the Duke of Verona in Romeo et Juliette ... read full bio

This season, bass-baritone Christian Van Horn returned to Lyric Opera of Chicago as Nourabad in The Pearl Fishers and made his debut at the Bayersiche Staatsoper as Colline in La Bohème. Upcoming opera engagements include Oroveso in Norma, the Bonze in Madama Butterfly, and the Voice of Neptune in Idomeno at the Bayerische Staatsoper, his debut at the Salzburg Easter Festival with the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, and a return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago in La Damnation de Faust. Mr. Van Horn recently made his debuts at the Salzburg Festival as the Duke of Verona in Romeo et Juliette.

A graduate of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists, Mr. Van Horn appeared in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's productions of Carmen, Der Rosenkavalier, and Aida. Other opera engagements have included his debuts at the Santa Fe Opera in Tan Dun's opera Tea: A Mirror of the Soul, the Los Angeles Opera as Colline,  the Arizona Opera as the title role in Le nozze di Figaro, the Virginia Opera as Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor, the Ft. Worth Opera as Timur in Turandot, and at Opera Pacific as Zuniga in Carmen; Colline in La Bohème at the Baltimore Opera; Figaro at the Chicago Opera Theatre; Karenin in Anna Karenin (world premiere); Masetto in Don Giovanni and the Duke of Verona at the Florida Grand Opera; and  Karenin, Premiere Fossoyeur in Hamlet, Angelotti in Tosca and the Immigration Officer in the American premiere of Jonathan Dove's Flight at the Opera Theater of Saint Louis.

Mr. Van Horn's recent concert engagements have included his Carnegie Hall debut in a concert programmed by the Emerson String Quartet as part of their Perspective Series, Tippet's Child of Our Time with the Chicago Symphony (with Sir Andrew Davis), Beethoven Symphony No. 9 with the Pacific Symphony, and the opening concerts of the Bard Music Festival. 

Mr. Van Horn received his Master's degree in music from Yale University. His numerous awards include winner at the 2003 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, a 2003 Sarah Tucker Study Grant, first place at the 2002 MacAllister Competition Collegiate Division, prize winner in the 2002 Liederkranz Foundation Vocal Competition, and the Richman Award from Opera Theatre of St. Louis.