Aaron Crouch
An artist and activist, African-American tenor, Aaron Crouch has been described by the Huffington Post as “riveting vocally and as an actor.” Originally from Bowie, Maryland, he is a recent graduate of the prestigious Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, studying under the guidance of Mikael Eliasen and Jonathan Beyer.
During the 2021/22 season, Mr. Crouch will return to the Glimmerglass Festival to debut the role of Tamino in Kelley Rourke’s storybook adaptation of The Magic Flute. Additionally, he will reprise the role of The Son in Jeanine Tesori and Tazewell Thompson’s award-winning opera, Blue, at Michigan Opera Theatre and Pittsburgh Opera. He will also appear as Don Ramiro in Tri-Cities Opera’s production of Cenerentola.
Most recently, Mr. Crouch was seen in concerts with The Master Chorale of Southern Florida, Washington Concert Opera, and Lyric Fest in Philadelphia. He has also performed at Caramoor and with the New York Festival of Songs, notably the Schwab Vocal Rising Stars concert, as well as Myths to Live By, co-created by Steven Blier and Julia Bullock.
In November 2020, Mr. Crouch was a winner in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions at the Michigan District. He was also chosen as one of nine finalists for the Houston Grand Opera’s Concert of Arias, the 33rd Annual Eleanor McCollum Competition for Young Singers in February 2021.
In the 2019/2020 season, Mr. Crouch was slated to make his debuts at Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Mostly Mozart Festival, and Minnesota Opera. All these engagements were cancelled or postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Crouch has been a soloist with the New World Symphony for their Ravel Journey Concert. He also performed in an all- Bernstein concert with the Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey for Bernstein’s centennial in 2019.
In past summers, Mr. Crouch has attended the Chautauqua Institution, performing the role of Nemorino in Donizetti’s L’elisir d’amore, as well as Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy. Mr. Crouch was selected as a member of the young artist program at The Glimmerglass Festival in 2019 and 2021.
During his time at the Curtis Institute of Music, Mr. Crouch performed several notable roles such as Don Ottavio in Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Lensky in Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, Prunier in Puccini’s La Rondine, and Anthony in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd. He also starred in the premiere of a new work by Nick DiBerardino, Anansi and the Great Light commissioned for the Curtis Family Concert Series.
A Gold Medalist at The YoungArts Foundation Awards in 2017, he also won First Place in the Sue Goetz Ross Voice Competition, Shirley Rabb Winston Voice Competition (Maryland chapter), and Classical Singer Vocal Competition (University Intermediate Division). He received Third Place in The Rochester International Vocal Competition and won an Emerging Artist Award from the Opera Index Vocal Competition in 2019.
Mr. Crouch was also featured in Joyce DiDonato’s Masterclass Series at Carnegie Hall, streamed on Medici.tv.
As an entrepreneur constantly seeking to push creative boundaries, Mr. Crouch used the pandemic as an opportunity to stretch himself imaginatively and vocally with his “What the Fach?!” series on YouTube, in which he performs repertoire traditionally sung by different voice types. Crouch also founded Utopia Arts, an organization with the mission of helping discover promising BIPOC classical artists and providing education that lays the foundation for transforming the industry.