Dramatic tenor Issachah Savage has appeared with many of the world’s leading orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, The Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Houston Symphony, The Philadelphia Orchestra, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, St. Louis Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo, and the Melbourne Symphony. He has collaborated with many of today’s foremost conductors, such as Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Gustavo Dudamel, Riccardo Muti, Fabio Luisi, James Conlon, Gianandrea Noseda, Marin Alsop, Jaap van Zweden, Robert Spano, Lorenzo Viotti, and Susanna Mälkki. His wide-ranging symphonic repertoire includes Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Smyth’s Mass in D, Giddens and Abel’s Omar’s Journey, Mozart’s Requiem, Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, and Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder.
Operatic highlights include performances with The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Houston Grand Opera, LA Opera, Seattle Opera, Canadian Opera Company, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Dutch National Opera, Théâtre du Capitole de Toulouse, and the Salzburg Festival. He has sung much of the great dramatic tenor repertoire, including the title roles in Tannhäuser, Otello, Peter Grimes, and Rienzi; Siegmund in Die Walküre; Radamès in Aida; Bacchus in Ariadne auf Naxos; Der Kaiser in Die Frau ohne Schatten; Manrico in Il trovatore; and Narraboth in Salome.
This season, Savage makes debuts with the Milwaukee Symphony in Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis and with the North Carolina Symphony in Mozart’s Great Mass in C minor. He also returns to Lyric Opera of Chicago for Echoes of Excellence: Celebrating the Legacy of Chicago’s Black Voices, and to the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo for Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Upcoming seasons include a debut with Opéra de Rouen and a return to the Lyric Opera of Chicago in a title role.
Savage is the winner of the Seattle International Wagner Competition, where he earned the main prize, audience favorite prize, orchestra favorite prize, and a special honor from Speight Jenkins. He has also received awards and grants from institutions such as the Wagner Societies of New York, Washington, D.C., and Northern California; the Licia Albanese International Puccini Foundation; the Olga Forrai Foundation; the Gerda Lissner Foundation; the Jensen Vocal Competition; Opera Index; and the Giulio Gari Foundation.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in Vocal Performance from Morgan State University and a master’s degree in Opera Voice Performance from The Catholic University of America.
2025-2026
