Peter Kendall Clark

Baritone Peter Kendall Clark is a distinguished interpreter of opera and musical theater who also excels in traditional concert and song repertoire. He has created roles in numerous world premieres, most recently portraying Older Erich in Ted Rosenthal’s jazz opera Dear Erich with New York City Opera, garnering praise from The New York Times’ Anthony Tommasini for bringing “gravity and an earthy sound” to his “impressive” performance. He also created the role of Jehovah in Mark Blitzstein’s Cain, in which The New York Times singled out his singing as “stylish and properly stentorian”. Over the past two decades, Mr. Clark has had return engagements with New York City Opera, Virginia Opera, Caramoor Opera, Ashlawn (Charlottesville) Opera, Syracuse Opera, St. Petersburg Opera, Chelsea Opera, and Skylight Music Theatre. As a musical theater actor, Mr. Clark has equal affinity with dramatic, comic and romantic roles such as Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance (Skylight Opera Theater), Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun, Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, King Arthur in Camelot (Ashlawn Opera), and Fredrik in A Little Night Music (Syracuse Opera). Opera News singled him out for his performance in DiCapo Opera’s The Most Happy Fella: “a strapping, energetic Joe [whose] soothingly sexy rendition of ‘Don’t Cry’ was, in its way, the most memorable vocal moment in the show.” His performances as Sweeney Todd at St. Petersburg Opera and Hawaii Opera Theater were also richly praised. The Tampa Bay Times singled him out as a Todd who “not only sang gorgeously…but also displayed the dramatic range and comic timing…to turn the blackness of the tale into something transcendent.” He has also been in demand for his “likably vulnerable King Arthur” (Virginian Pilot), which he first performed at Ashlawn Opera and, subsequently, at Virginia Opera.

Mr. Clark made his debut with New York City Opera in their sold out production of Candide, directed by Harold Prince, who cast him in an array of comic roles. Since then he has been a regular with the company, appearing in the NYC premiere of Peter Eötvös’ opera Angels in America, La Fanciulla del West as Sid, the American premiere of Charles Wuorinen’s Brokeback Mountain, Older Erich in the world premiere of Dear Erich, and as Officer Cahn in the world premiere of Iain Bell/Mark Campbell’s Stonewall. Other recent performances include the Baron/Inquisitor/Slave Captain/Pasha Prefect at Anchorage Opera in their co-production of Candide with the Anchorage Symphony, a return to St. Petersburg Opera as Harold Hill in The Music Man, Harry Easter in Street Scene with Virginia Opera, Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs and Fauré Requiem with Grace Chorale, Bach B minor Mass with Helena Symphony, MacHeath in the Threepenny Opera at Syracuse Opera, and Older Thompson in Glory Denied at Union Avenue Opera. In 2020 he made his debut in concert with Winter Opera of St. Louis.

When companies shuttered due the Covid-19 pandemic, Mr. Clark was in rehearsal to portray the Hungarian poet Miklós Radnóti in the NYC premiere of Tom Cipullo’s most recent opera The Parting with Chelsea Opera. Other canceled engagements for 2020 (hopefully to be rescheduled): Fredrik in A Little Night Music at TriCities Opera and Mr. Mister in The Cradle Will Rock at Union Avenue Opera.

Since May of 2020 he has given nearly 200 outdoor concerts in Brooklyn Heights in his weekly community concert series Songs From The Ledge which The New York Post has called “the hottest ticket in town!” Deborah Norville of CBS Inside Edition: “Call him the ‘Brownstone Baritone’. Once a week Peter Kendall Clark gets on a stoop in Brooklyn and the magic begins!” As the “Brownstone Baritone” he has also been profiled on ABC News, Only Good Heroes for OGTV, Voice of America, The New York Post, Japan’s Public Television’s (NHK) Catch! The World’s Top News, and WQXR’s New York in Concert. His one-man show ‘Browstone Baritone” opened up the Four Seasons Concert Series at the Piazza Imo in May, presented by Winter Opera of St. Louis. The show is currently getting booked around the country. In a first return to opera work, he played the role of Papa in the workshop The Garden of the Finzi Continis by Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie, which will be coproduced by New York City Opera and the Folksbiene National Yiddish Theater in January of 2022.