About

Erik Tofte is a baritone from Binghamton, New York. He holds a Master’s Degree in Voice from Mannes School of Music (The New School) and a Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from Binghamton University. He is currently pursuing his Professional Studies Certificate in Opera at the Curtis Institute of Music, in Philadelphia, PA.

Throughout his career, the young baritone has been on the forefront of exciting new operatic repertoire. This spring, Erik was a guest artist with Beth Morrison Projects for the 2023 workshop premiere of Sensorium Ex (Prestini, Shaughnessy) at Performance Space in the East Village, NYC , and was the Baritone Soloist in Donald McCullough’s Holocaust Cantata: Tales from the Camps with Arcadia Chorale, under the baton of Matthew Rupcich.

Other new music engagements include “The Villain” in the world premiere of the chamber opera, The End: A Fairytale, by J.P. Redmond and Julia Hoch (Concordia Conservatory, 2022) and “The Outlaw” in In a Grove by Christopher Cerrone/Stephanie Fleischman (Mannes Opera).

This past summer, Erik performed the role of Schaunard in Puccini’s La Boheme with Delaware Valley Opera. Just two weeks after the conclusion of this opera, he portrayed the role of Robert Bravo in a new work with the company entitled, The Audition - a pastiche with dialogue and arias based on Mozart’s Impresario. Erik has performed many other roles with ‘DVO’ such as: Count Ceprano (Rigoletto, 2022); Sergeant of Police (The Pirates of Penzance, 2022); Henry (The Gift of the Magi, 2021); Ben/Mr. Gobineau (The Telephone and the Medium, 2019) and the Marquis (La Traviata, 2019).

Erik has performed with Tri-Cities Opera in Binghamton, NY as the Boatswain in a production of H. M. S. Pinafore (2019, The Forum) and as the Registrar in Madame Butterfly (2018, the Forum). He has also performed in many chorus and superlative roles with the company.

He has performed with the SUNY Binghamton Opera Ensemble as Papageno in Die Zauberflöte, Guglielmo in Così fan tutte, The Shoe Salesman in Postcard from Morocco, and Aeneas in Dido and Aeneas. While at Binghamton University, Erik placed first in several vocal competitions, including the NATS Regional Competition (2016, 2017, 2018) and the Northeastern Division of the CS Music Competition (2018). He was also a semifinalist in the national rounds of both competitions.

Erik is beginning his second and final year of studies at the Curtis Institute of Music this August. In his first year, Erik performed the role of Sergeant Belcore in L’Elisir d’Amore with Curtis Opera and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra (Philadelphia Film Center, 2023) and covered the role of King of Scotland in Handel’s Ariodante (The Kimmel Center, 2023).

This season with Curtis, Erik made his Verizon Hall debut in Philadelphia, performing scenes from Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos with maestro Yannick Nézet-Séguin and the Curtis Symphony Orchestra (Oct. 2023, The Kimmel Center). In March of 2024 Erik will tackle the role of Le Mari in Poulenc’s Les mamelles de Tirésias (Mar. 2024, Philadelphia Film Center). Stay tuned for some exciting new announcements regarding summer 2024 performances!