Kenneth Derby Baritone

Kenneth Derby completed his acting studies at Carnegie-Mellon University and Masters of Music at Indiana University. Herbert Kraus is his voice teacher, and he has also studied with James King (Bloomington) and Henry Legay (Paris).

His international career began in Paris at Le LIDO. Engagements followed as Scarpia ("Tosca", Milan and on tour), Dulcamara ("L’Elisir d’amore", Frankfurt), M. André ("The Phantom of the Opera", Hamburg, Harold Prince, Director), Manfred and Max von Mayerling ("Sunset Boulevard" original German cast and recording, Trevor Nunn, Director), Amos Hart ( "Chicago", Mainz), Georges ("La Cage aux folles", Frankfurt), and The Arbiter ("Chess", Basel).

Further engagements have included Merano, Mannheim, Tokyo, Cairo and Athens. In America he has performed the Pirate King ("The Pirates of Penzance"), Dick Deadeye ("HMS Pinafore,"), Pish-Tush ("The Mikado,") and President John P. Wintergreen ("Of Thee I Sing") with the New York Gilbert & Sullivan Players as well as Telramund ("Lohengrin,") Wolfram ("Tannhäuser,") and Marcelo ("La Bohème") in concert.

In 2007 he sang Fredrik Egerman in Opera Cleveland’s production of "A Little Night Music." Since 2005 Derby has been a guest artist at the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck, Austria singing Perón ("Evita,") Pilate ("Jesus Christ Superstar") and Kapitän Cat ("Under Milk Wood.")