Baritone
Briggs is a 18 year old high-baritone and has been formally studying classical voice for the past 9 years. He recently graduated Interlochen Arts Academy, as a classical voice major under Director of Choirs, Dr.Carter Smith, Director of Opera, Dr. Laura Osgood Brown, and Briggs’s studio teacher, Jeff Norris. Briggs has accepted to the Royal College Music in London, where he will study under studio professor, Tim Evan Jones. Briggs most recently performed in the world-premiere of Edmonia, by Bill Banfield, performing alongside Sydney Harcourt. He was Monostatos, in The Magic Flute, by Mozart with the Manhattan Opera Studio, Anaes, in “Dido and Anaes”,by Henry Purcell and libretto by Nahum Tate, Col. Calverley in Patience, by Gilbert and Sullivan, and in various operworks, such as Marcello in La Bohème, by Giacomo PuccinI performing “Sappiper tuo governo…Quando m’en vo”, Alidoro in La Cerentola performing Introduzione “No, no, no”,
He previously attended Shattuck St. Mary’s School as a member of their Vocal Performance Center of Excellence under Director Mr. Pete Schlief, where he also attended boarding school for 3 years to include 2 opera performances with MN Opera’s Project Opera, performed in 3 school musicals, competitions, and local performances and touring.
Early Years:
Briggs was a touring Concert-Choir member of the American Boychoir School, under Director Fernando Ruiz~Malvar, in Princeton, New Jersey, with whom he toured all over the US and China, to include the Beijing Concert Hall, the Metropolitan Museum, and the Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall with the Philadelphia Orchestra on numerous occasions, when he was in 5th grade.
Prior to his time with the American Boychoir, Briggs was cast as a Sprite in Verdi’s “Falstaff”, performed by Shakespeare Opera Theatre at age 9. Briggs also performed in 40 shows of “The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber”, at Riverside Center, in Fredericksburg, VA, where Briggs was featured singing “Pie Jesus” and performed in 9 other songs alongside the cast at age 10. Additionally, Briggs was cast in the 10th episode of “Vireo”, a made for television opera. Briggs has been a part of the youth and adult choir at his church, Trinity Episcopal, in Upperville, VA , for the past 10 years under the direction of Christian Myers, head of music ministry at Trinity Episcopal Church in Upperville, Virginia, and continues under the current music minister, Daniel Miller
AWARDS:
Westminster Summer Vocal Institute Musicianship Award 2019
US NEW STAR COMPETITION- 2021 1st place and overall Top Performer
Gaitherburg Young Arts- 2022 Competition- Honorable Mention
Schmidt Competition: Most Promising Award 2022
CS Music- Winner of the Summer Feedback Competition, 2022
CS Music All-State Singer Awards, 2023
(NATS) Great Lakes Regional Competition-
made top 5 and advances to the preliminary round held later in April 2023
• World Classical Music Awards: Platinum Winner
• Medici International Music Competition
PROGRAMS:
RSCM: 2018 and 2019
Westminster: High School Vocal Institute 2019, 2020
Berklee Summer Intensive: 2021
Eastman Classical Studies: 2022
Manhattan Opera Studio Summer Festival- cast as Monostatos in “The Magic Flute” performed at the National Opera House
Bel Canto in Tuscany, Summer 2024