SIDNEY OUTLW
baritone
Lauded by The New York Times as a “terrific singer” with a “deep, rich timbre,” Sidney Outlaw is an “opera powerhouse” who has delighted audiences in the U.S. and abroad with his “weighty and forthright” sound (San Francisco Chronicle) since 2010, when he exploded onto the international scene as the winner of the Grand Prize at the Concurso Internacional de Canto Montserrat Caballé.
A sought-after concert singer and recitalist, Mr. Outlaw appears in the 2024-2025 season in recital several times with close collaborator, renowned pianist Warren Jones, at Manhattan School of Music, Brooklyn Art Song Society, and University of North Florida. Additionally, he débuts with the California Symphony in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, with Bozeman Symphony Orchestra in Mozart’s Requiem, and returns to Jacksonville Symphony for their Messiah, following a triumphant debut with the company in 2023. His newest recording, an EP of Brahms’ Zwei Gesange Op. 91, was released by Lexicon Classics in 2024. On the opera stage, he returns to Pensacola Opera for one of his signature roles, Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro, and reprises his Don Giovanni with Greensboro Opera.
In the 2023-2024 season, Mr. Outlaw returned to Boston Baroque as the title role in Don Giovanni, in a performance that A.Z. Madonna of The Boston Globe called, “an extraordinary role début,” Marcello in La bohème with Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, Mercutio in Roméo et Juliette with Toledo Opera, and Belcore in L’elisir d’amore with Charlottesville Opera. He was seen in concert at Colorado Symphony, Opera Memphis, American Composers Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Jacksonville Symphony, the Oratorio Society of New York, and Nashville Symphony. He also sang the East Coast premiere of B.E. Boykin’s 26 Ways of Looking at a Black Man, a song cycle written for him, in recital at Manhattan School of Music and at Merola Opera Program.
In recent seasons, Mr. Outlaw sang Schaunard in La bohème with Greensboro Opera, Dizzy Gillespie in Charlie Parker’s Yardbird with New Orleans Opera, Figaro in Le nozze di Figaro with Opera Omaha, Salieri in Mozart and Salieri with Opera San Jose, Jake in Porgy and Bess with Greensboro Opera, and Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Pensacola Opera and Opera Saratoga. He made his San Francisco Opera début as the First Mate in Billy Budd, he sang Messiah with the National Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony, and Tommy McIntyre in Fellow Travelers with Madison Opera. On the concert platform, he made his début with Boston Baroque as soloist in Handel’s Messiah, returned to Oratorio Society New York as soloist in Bach’s B Minor Mass, and joined Youngstown Symphony Orchestra for Mahler’s Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen. Lament, his début solo album recorded live with Warren Jones, was released by Lexicon Classics in 2021.
Mr. Outlaw made his Schwabacher Recital début at the San Francisco Opera center with pianist John Churchwell and collaborates regularly with renowned pianists Warren Jones, Carol Wong, Steven Blier, and Michael Barrett. His concert and recital appearances include débuts of renowned works at major concert halls: Haydn’s The Creation and Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 at Avery Fisher Hall, Mahler’s Lieder eines Fahrenden Gesellen with Music Academy of the West and “Wednesday At One” at Alice Tully Hall, John Stevens in the world premiere concert of H. Leslie Adam’s opera Blake at the prestigious Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem, and the world premiere of Wayne Oquin’s A Time to Break Silence: Songs inspired by the Words and Writings of Martin Luther King, Jr., commissioned by The Juilliard School. Mr. Outlaw has traveled to Guinea as an Arts Envoy with the U.S. State Department, where he performed a program of American music in honor of Black History Month and in remembrance of Dr. Martin Luther King.
Originally from Brevard, North Carolina, Mr. Outlaw is a graduate of the Merola Opera Program and the Gerdine Young Artist Program at Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. Mr. Outlaw won 2nd Prize in the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation’s International Competition, 2nd Prize in the 2011 Gerda Lissner Foundation Awards, National Semifinalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, semifinalist in the Francisco Viñas International Singing Competition, finalist in both Concours International Musical de Montreal and George London Foundation, and grand prize in the Florida Grand Opera/YPO Vocal Competition. He holds a GRAMMY nomination for the Naxos Records recording of Darius Milhaud’s 1922 opera trilogy, L’Orestie d’Eschyle, in which he sang the role of Apollo.
Currently a member of the faculties at Manhattan School of Music and Brooklyn College, Mr. Outlaw has taught voice previously at Queens College and Ithaca College. He currently working on his EDM in Music Education from Columbia Teachers’ College and is passionate about balancing his performing career with teaching and mentoring the next generation of classical musicians.