ARTIST AVATAR
Bass-Baritone
Ryan McKinny
United States

About

Biography

During the 2025-26 season for HGO, Butler Studio alumnus Ryan McKinny performs the roles of Michele in Il tabarro and the title role in Gianni Schicchi, both part of Il trittico. He also performs the role of Lieutenant Horstmayer in Silent Night. McKinny’s many roles at HGO include Jan in Breaking the Waves (2025); Amfortas in Parsifal (2024); Leporello (2024) and the title role (2019) in Don Giovanni; Jokanaan in Salome (2023); and Gunther in Götterdämmerung (2017). Elsewhere during the season, McKinny stars as Joseph De Rocher in the 25th-anniversary production of Heggie’s Dead Man Walking at San Francisco Opera and makes a role debut as John Proctor in a new Francesca Zambello production of The Crucible at Washington National Opera. McKinny joins Omaha Symphony and Opera Omaha for the title role in Bluebeard’s Castle. He has recently appeared as the title character in Don Giovanni (Washington National Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Boston Symphony Orchestra); Escamillo in Carmen (Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Staatsoper Hamburg); De Rocher in Dead Man Walking (Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago); and Mozart’s Figaro (Washington National Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Seattle Opera, Metropolitan Opera). Other operatic triumphs include Amfortas in Parsifal (Bayreuth Festival, Argentina’s Teatro Cólon, Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Dutch National Opera); Kurwenal in Tristan und Isolde (Deutsche Oper Berlin, Seattle Opera, Canadian Opera Company, HGO); the title character in The Flying Dutchman (Hamburg State Opera, Milwaukee Symphony, Glimmerglass Festival, Hawaii Opera Theater); Scarpia in Tosca (Los Angeles Opera); Adams’s Girls of the Golden West (Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Opera, Dutch National Opera); and Jokanaan in Salome (Santa Fe Opera). He also created the role of Mac in the world premiere of Jake Heggie and Gene Scheer’s opera, Before It All Goes Dark (2024), recently released on Warner Classics. 

HGO repertoire

Nikitch/Police Officer BORIS GODUNOV 2005-06 

Innkeeper/Sergeant/Captain: MANON LESCAUT 2005-06 

Zuniga: CARMEN 2005-06 

Mercury/Lictor/Consul: THE CORONATION OF POPPEA 2005-06 

Figaro: THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO 2005-06 (Miller Outdoor Theatre) 

Pietro: SIMON BOCCANEGRA 2006-07 

Masetto: DON GIOVANNI 2006-07 

Death: DER KAISER VON ATLANTIS 2006-07 (Congregation Beth Israel) 

Peter (Father): HANSEL AND GRETEL 2006-07 (Mainstage and Miller Outdoor Theatre) 

Badger: THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN 2006-07 

Ramfis: AIDA 2006-07 

Samuel: A MASKED BALL 2007-08 

THE REFUGE 2007-08 (World premiere, Mainstage and Miller Outdoor Theatre)  

Mr. Flint: BILLY BUDD 2007-08  

Don Pedro: BEATRICE AND BENEDICT 2008-09 

Theseus: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM 2008-09 

CHORUS! 2008-09  

Royal Herald: LOHENGRIN 2009-10 

Collatinus: THE RAPE OF LUCRETIA 2011-12 

Kurwenal: TRISTAN AND ISOLDE 2012-13 

Rigoletto: RIGOLETTO 2013-14 

Escamillo: CARMEN 2013-14 

Donner: DAS RHEINGOLD 2013-14 

Gunther: GÖTTERDÄMMERUNG 2016-17 

Don Giovanni: DON GIOVANNI 2018-19 

Atticus Finch's Trainer: VINKENSPORT 2020-21 (Digital) 

Jokanaan: SALOME 2022-23 

Amfortas:  PARSIFAL 2023-24 

Leporello: DON GIOVANNI 2023-24 

PATRON’S CIRCLE RECITAL 2023-24 

Jan Nyman: BREAKING THE WAVES 2024-25 

Co-Director: 

VINKENSPORT 2020-21 (Digital) 

BON APPETIT 2020-21 (Digital)