David Govertsen

Second-year Ryan Opera Center memberDavid Govertsen, bass-baritone, spent two summers in The Santa Fe Opera’s apprentice program. While there, he sang King Basilio/Lewis Spratlan’s Life is a Dream (workshop premiere). He also appeared as a soloist in the Mozart Requiem with the Santa Fe Symphony and joined the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival for a concert of Bach arias and duets. During his tenure at Northwestern University the bass-baritone performed the title role/The Marriage of Figaro, Basilio/The Barber of Seville, and Beaumarchais/The Ghosts of Versailles. In the spring of 2011 he made his Carnegie Hall debut in Otello with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (Riccardo Muti conducting), and later that year he performed with the Grant Park Music Festival. Other recent engagements for the Wheaton, Illinois native include Handel’s Messiah with the Northwest Indiana Symphony; Haydn’s Creation, Handel’s Dettingen Te Deum and Mozart’s Requiem with the Elmhurst Symphony; Gianni Schicchi with DuPage Opera Theatre; and a recital at Chicago’s Mayne Stage (also broadcast on WFMT). Govertsen appeared in Lyric Opera of Chicago’s 2011-12 season as Nikitich/Boris Godunov (debut), the Second Armed Man/The Magic Flute regular performances, and the Speaker/The Magic Flute student matinees. This season he is featured in Werther and Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.