Christian Van Horn

American bass-baritone Christian Van Horn has built an international career distinguished by vocal power, dramatic authority, and compelling portrayals of opera’s kings, outsiders, and villains. Winner of the 2018 Richard Tucker Award, he appears at the Metropolitan Opera, Opéra national de Paris, Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, and San Francisco Opera. His career also encompasses engagements with Teatro Real in Madrid, the Canadian Opera Company, Los Angeles Opera, Santa Fe Opera, the Salzburg Festival, and Arena di Verona.

His 2026 performances have showcased the breadth of his repertoire, from Bellini and Mozart to Verdi and Bartók. At the Metropolitan Opera, he appeared as Giorgio Walton in the new production of I Puritani, transmitted worldwide through the company’s Live in HD series, and as Escamillo in Carmen. He returned to The Dallas Opera as Filippo II in Don Carlo, to the Canadian Opera Company in the title role of Bluebeard’s Castle, and to the Bavarian State Opera as Timur in Turandot. In September, he sang Jacopo Fiesco in Simon Boccanegra at San Francisco Opera under Eun Sun Kim.

The remainder of 2026 brings the title role of Don Giovanni at Lyric Opera of Chicago, Verdi’s Requiem at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu, a featured concert with the Prague Philharmonia, and Méphistophélès in Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust at the Vienna State Opera.

Van Horn’s leading roles encompass the title characters in Mefistofele, Don Giovanni, Don Quichotte, and Attila, alongside Méphistophélès in Gounod’s Faust, Nick Shadow in The Rake’s Progress, Claggart in Billy Budd, and Zaccaria in Nabucco. Career milestones include Mefistofele at the Metropolitan Opera, Don Quichotte and Philippe II in the French-language Don Carlos at the Paris Opera, and Attila in concert at Teatro Real. His interpretation of the Four Villains in Les Contes d’Hoffmann has taken him to the Metropolitan Opera, Paris Opera, Salzburg Festival, Bavarian State Opera, San Francisco Opera, and Los Angeles Opera.

On the concert stage, Van Horn has appeared with the Berlin Philharmonic, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Cleveland Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony, and Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. His performances of Bluebeard’s Castle include appearances with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra at Carnegie Hall and on its 2024 tour of Asia, and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen in 2025.

Born in Rockville Centre, New York, Van Horn earned his Master of Music and Artist Diploma at the Yale School of Music and trained at Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center. Beyond the stage, he hosts The CVH Podcast, offering candid conversations about opera, artistic life, and the profession.