He has sung in the greatest opera houses of the world and is regarded by audiences worldwide as the most elegant and accomplished bel canto singer on the opera stage today. He has made a career of perfecting the bel canto tenor repertory for the past twenty-five years, earning widespread acclaim for his performances of the most demanding tenor roles of the French and Italian bel canto operas. Most recently, he has tackled and mastered the tenor repertory of Berlioz, in concert and on the stage with tremendous success. He is a favorite of conductors and stage directors alike and has collaborated with outstanding talents such as Richard Bonynge, Giancarlo del Monaco, Riccardo Muti, Pier Luigi Pizzi, Michel Plasson, George Pretre, Charles Dutoit, Claudio Scimone and Alberto Zedda. He has built an adult chamber choir of forty voices in between performances all over the world and he lives in Rochester, New York. He is GREGORY KUNDE.

But this career did not begin on the stage. Born in Kankakee, Illinois, Gregory Kunde attended Illinois State University to become a choral conductor. At the close of his fourth year of college, he decided at the last moment to audition for Lyric Opera of Chicago's Young Artists Program. The tenor did not expect to land a post as an apprentice, but his rendition of Donizetti's "Una furtiva lagrima" made such an impression on listeners that he was immediately accepted into the young artists' program and soon found himself at rehearsals and on the stage with some of opera's greatest legends, including Pavarotti, Milnes, Freni, and his soon-to-be mentor, tenor Alfredo Kraus.

The tenor began performing in 1978 at the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Center for American Artists, where he had the opportunity to work with well-known conductors, directors, and singers, such as Erich Leinsdorf, Julius Rudel, Jean Pierre Ponelle, Tito Gobbi, Mirella Freni, Joan Sutherland, Alfredo Kraus, Luciano Pavarotti, Placido Domingo, and Jon Vickers. From Chicago, he went on to become a guest of America's major theaters, including those in Toronto, Cincinnati, Houston, Detroit, Minneapolis, Columbus, San Diego, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

Hailed by critics as a rising young star, Gregory Kunde made his European debut as Nadir in Bizet's Les Pecheurs des Perles in Nice. Since then, he has become well known and well respected for his interpretations of the most challenging tenor roles. Mr. Kunde has appeared regularly and with great success in the world's most notable opera venues, including Paris' Opera Comique and Bastille, Deutsche Oper in Berlin, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Rome, Madrid, Toulouse, Munich, Vienna, Pesaro's Rossini Festival, Athens, Montreal, Zurich, Tokyo, Verona, Teatro alla Scala, Grand Theatre du Geneve, Metropolitan Opera, San Francisco Opera and many others.

Mr. Kunde has earned universal acclaim for performances of the most demanding tenor roles, including, most notably: Arnold of Rossini's Guillaume Tell; Tebaldo in Bellini's I Capuleti e I Montecchi; Lindoro in Rossini's L'Italiana in Algieri; Julian in Charpentier's Louise; Des Grieux of Massenet's Manon; Nadir of Bizet's Les Pecheurs des Perles; Ernesto in Donizetti's Don Pasquale; Elvino in Bellini's La Sonnambula; Fernando in Donizetti's La Favorita; Idreno in Rossini's Semiramide; Don Ottavio in Mozart's Don Giovanni; Don Ramiro in Rossini's La Cenerentola; Rinaldo in Rossini's Armida; Pirro in Rossini's Ermione; and his signature, Arturo of Bellini's I Puritani.

Once heralded as the bel canto authority, Kunde now claims the music of Berlioz as his territory as well. In 2002, John Eliot Gardiner sought the tenor for his new production of Benvenuto Cellini in Zurich. Stage director David Poutney placed Kunde at the center of action throughout and the tenor handily embodied the mercurial personality of the music and character of Cellini. Soon after this critical triumph, he was immediately named heir apparent to the Berlioz repertory. Shattering old ideas of the helden tenor's secure place in this French genre, Kunde has convincingly brought his bel canto elegance to this music. Under the direction of John Nelson, Kunde performed and recorded Benevenuto Cellini in concert with the Orchestra Radio France (Virgin Classics). He has already sung several concert performances of La Damnation de Faust with Maestro Charles Dutoit with the London Philharmonia and the Atlanta Symphony. And at Paris' Theatre du Chatelet, Kunde appeared in the magnificent role of Aeneas, for a landmark staging of Berlioz's Les Troyens under the baton of Maestro John Eliot Gardiner (released in January 2005 as a DVD from the BBC and Opus Arte). Berlioz continues to figure prominently in the tenor's future performance schedule.

He has established himself as a regular at the highly acclaimed Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, Rossini's birthplace, first appearing there in 1992. He made his debut as Idreno in Semiramide, and has since returned to sing Rinaldo in Armida with soprano Renee Fleming (1993); Arnold in Guillaume Tell with Maestro Giancarlo Gelmetti and stage director Pier Luigi Pizzi (1995), Ricciardo in Ricciardo e Zoraide with director Luca Ronconi (1996), and Argirio in the tragedy Tancredi opposite soprano Patrizia Ciofi and mezzo Marianna Pizzolato (2004).

He has appeared frequently at Teatro alla Scala, making his debut on the 200th anniversary of Rossini's birthday in a concert of Rossini's Stabat Mater with Carol Vaness, Feruccio Furlanetto, and Luciana d'Intino. He has also appeared there as Roderigo in Rossini's La Donna del Lago with June Anderson, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Thomas Allen, Renee Fleming and Cecilia Bartoli, Ernesto in Don Pasquale, and in the opening of the 1996-97 season with Gluck's Armide, all under the baton of Riccardo Muti. He appeared again in Milan with Natalie Dessay in a new production of Bellini's La Sonnambula in 2001.

The Vienna Staatsoper has become another familiar stop for this tenor. He has been heard in many performances of I Puritani there as well as several appearances as Arnold in Guillaume Tell, sharing the stage with Carol Vaness and Thomas Hampson. He has appeared there for several performances of La Sonnambula as well as other bel canto projects.

With the award-winning recordings of Strauss' Capriccio with Dame Felicity Lott and Sir Thomas Allen, Delibes' Lakmé with Natalie Dessay and Jose van Dam, and the Berlioz recordings of Benvenuto Cellini opposite Patrizia Ciofi and Les Troyens with Susan Graham and Anna Caterina Antonacci, Mr. Kunde has captured worldwide attention with his exemplary phrasing, irreproachable diction, and intuitive interpretation.

A departure from the bel canto repetoire, Mr. Kunde has received widespread critical acclaim for his interpretation of the title role in Monteverdi's Orfeo in a version created for the tenor by Claudio Scimone. The role of Nerone in Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea also brought great success and an opportunity to feature Mr. Kunde's mastery of the baroque.

Mr. Kunde has brought his expertise in the bel canto repertoire to the concert stage as well. The Opera Orchestra of New York, with Maestra Eve Queler, has invited the tenor to appear on numerous occasions in collaboration with such notable artists as Renee Fleming in Bellini's La Straniera in a world premiere version written for the tenor Rubini and in Rossini's Armida, reprising their great success from the Ronconi production in Pesaro, Mariella Devia in Bellini's I Puritani, Ruth Ann Swenson in Bellini's La Sonnambula, Vesalina Kasarova and Annick Massis in Bellini's I Capuleti e I Montecchi, Jennifer Larmore and Dmitri Hvorostovsky in Donizetti's La Favorita, and Ruth Ann Swenson and Lauren Flanigan in Donizetti's Maria Stuarda. With the VARA Radio Orchestra at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, he appeared as the only non-Russian singer in a cast of stars from the Kirov Opera in a production of Glinka's A Life for the Tzar under the baton of Edo de Waart. He has also sung at the Concertgebouw with Nelly Miricioiu in Donizetti's Anna Bolena.

Other concert appearances have included such highlights as Rossini's Stabat Mater, under the direction of noted conductors Michel Plasson, Riccardo Chailly, and Riccardo Muti, the Berlioz Requiem with already legendary French conductors Georges Pretre and Michel Plasson, the Bach B Minor Mass led by Riccardo Muti with the Vienna Philharmonic. The tenor has been honored to perform Handel's Messiah at the United States Naval Academy on several occasions over the years, participating in the long-standing tradition of the Midshipmen's annual holiday concert under the baton of John Barry Talley. His future engagements continue to include concert appearances - Berlioz' La Damnation de Faust, the world premiere of Richard Blackford's Voices of Exile with the Bach Choir, Rossini's Comte Ory, to name a few.