Hailed by the Boston Globe for his “velvety-smooth, dark-hued, stylish” voice, bass-baritone Eric Downs is garnering great acclaim on both the operatic and concert stage.

This season Mr. Downs makes two return appearances, first to Townsend Opera and Fresno Grand Opera to sing Dr. Gibbs in Ned Rorem’s Our Town. Then he travels to Warsaw, Poland where he will sing Father Trulove in The Rake’s Progress with the Beethoven Easter Festival. Last season, Mr. Downs revisited the role of Leporello in a critically acclaimed production of Don Giovanni with NYC’s Venture Opera. He appeared again with Venture Opera as Zuniga in Carmen.

Other recent season highlights include the roles of Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia and Sparafucile in Rigoletto with Shreveport Opera; Mustafà in The Italian Girl in Algiers and Krusina in The Bartered Bride with Boston Midsummer Opera; Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Jigger Craigin in Carousel with Opera on the Avalon; Colline in La Bohème with Amarillo Opera and Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre; Figaro, Leporello, and Don Alfonso in a three-season series of Mozart's Da Ponte operas with the Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra; and a guest appearance as Javert in Les Misérables with Pepperdine University where he was Artist in Residence.

Internationally, Mr. Downs has also appeared with the Beethoven Easter Festival in Donizetti's Maria Padilla and with the Orchestra Verdi in Milan, Italy singing featured roles in such works as Gianni Schicchi, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Trouble in Tahiti, Kiss Me Kate, and Il Tabarro among others.

Mr. Downs is an active soloist with recent concert appearances in Haydn's Paukenmesse at Carnegie Hall, Handel's Messiah at The Washington National Cathedral, Haydn’s The Creation with Greensboro Symphony, a Victor Herbert Gala with the Little Orchestra Society of New York at Lincoln Center, and the Vaughan Williams Hodie with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra.

Currently residing in New York City, Eric received his Master of Music degree and Artist Diploma from the Yale School of Music.