Boyd Schlaefer

Adjunct Instructor of Music
Applied Voice, Opera Ensemble

Boyd Schlaefer, bass-baritone, is currently in his ninth year as a member of New York City Opera. At NYCO he has sung roles in such productions as The Visit (Stationmaster), The Dreyfus Affair (Judge), Ester (Teresh), Die Soldaten (The Officer) and is a member of the Regular Chorus.

He was seen this year as the Swedish Lumberjack and First Crony in the PBS Live from Lincoln Center broadcast of Paul Bunyan. Mr. Schlaefer also performs with the NYCO Education Department. For nine years, he performed in the Metropolitan Opera Guild productions of Gianni Schicchi, Don Pasquale and The Barber of Seville. Elsewhere, his professional credits include several roles with the Seattle Opera Association, where he was a recipient of the Cecilia Schultz Award for young artists. He was Jake Wallace in the Portland Opera Association production of LaFanciulla del West and with the Eugene Opera Company, Guglielmo in Cosi fan Tutte, Malatesta in Don Pasquale and Dr. Falke in Die Fledermaus.

Mr. Schlaefer performed for two seasons with the Lake George Opera Festival, most recently as Schaunard in LaBoheme. He has sung with the June Opera Festival and the American Music Theater of Philadelphia where he was the FBI Agent in the premier of Malcolm X. Other roles include Surplice in The Daughter of the Regiment with Peoria Civic Opera and the title role in Berber the Elephant and Melchior in Amahl and the Night Visitors with the Little Orchestra Society of New York at Avery Fisher Hall. Mr. Schlaefer is the Artistic Director and founder of Northwest Opera in Schools, etc. (NOISE), a Seattle based company which has been presenting educational opera programs in the Northwest for the last fourteen years.

He is also on the music faculty at Western Connecticut State University and Manhattanville College. He and his wife, soprano Michele McBride, live in Brookfield, CT with their two children.

Contact: schlaeferb@wcsu.edu