Bio
Philippe Pierce is earning critical acclaim as a singing actor in the character tenor repertoire. Of his recent portrayal in A Little Night Music, Opera News said “Henrik was quite well played and sung by Philippe Pierce, who not only was capable of singing the highest notes easily, without resorting to falsetto, but mimed the playing of the cello so admirably that most of the audience was unsure whether he was really playing or not.” The Cleveland Plain Dealer exclaimed, “Bravos, too, to Philippe Pierce, who brings incisive zest to the roles of Don Basilio and Don Curzio,” in Le Nozze di Figaro.
Most recent engagements include Prunier in La Rondine, at the Teatro Convitto in San Sepolcro and the Teatro Signorelli in Cortona, Italy, as well as Giuseppe in La Traviata, Belmonte cover in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Frederic in The Pirates of Penzance, Don Basilio and Don Curzio in Le Nozze di Figaro, Henrik in A Little Night Music and Marc in the World Premiere Production of Florida all with Opera Cleveland; Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with The New Opera; Ernesto in Don Pasquale with the Pine Mountain Music Festival and the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Paris Choral Society, marking his European debut.
Mr. Pierce is a frequent performer in New England with recent appearances as Frantz, Spalanzani and Nathanael in The Tales of Hoffmann and Alfredo in La Traviata with Longwood Opera; Marco in The Gondoliers with The Harvard-Radcliffe Gilbert and Sullivan Players; Laurie in the New England premiere of Mark Adamo’s Little Women; the Station Master in Opera Boston’s La Vie Parisienne; the Sailor in Dido and Aeneas with Melopoeia Musica; and Le Prince Charmant in Massenet’s Cendrillon with OperaTunity, and Monsieur Triquet in Eugene Onegin at the Lowell House Opera, where he returned in performances as Le Petit Vieillard, La Théière and La Rainette in L’Enfant et les Sortilèges and Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni.
He has appeared with the New England Conservatory in productions of Trouble in Tahiti (Trio), The Magic Flute (Second Priest), and Candide (Spanish Don), L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Lucano) and Barber’s A Hand of Bridge (Bill).
Mr. Pierce was born in France, and now resides in New York City. He received his BA in Theater Arts from Brown University and an MM from the New England Conservatory. While at Brown, Mr. Pierce was the recipient of the Weston Fine Arts Award. At Brown University, he appeared as Brother Hannibal Jackson in Kurt Weill’s Happy End, and took part in two world premieres - Artistic License and Emma. He went on to perform the latter at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
Upcoming performances include Remendado in Carmen with Opera Western Reserve, Gastone in La Traviata with Dayton Opera, and a return to Opera Cleveland singing Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor, Beppe in Pagliacci and Schmidt in Werther.