Jeffrey Snider, baritone, received both bachelors and masters degrees from Indiana University. He received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of North Texas in 1996 and now serves as chair of the Division of Vocal Studies. For many years his performances had focused on concert repertoire such as Orff’s Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah. In the 2002-2003 season he returned to the opera stage as the Duke of Verona in Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette with the Fort Worth Opera in a performance that the Dallas Morning News called “noble” and “sonorous”.

In May of 2005 he placed second in Opera New York’s inaugural “Chester Ludgin American Verdi Baritone Competition,” singing before a panel that included opera stars Placido Domingo, James Morris, and Regina Resnik. Last season he performed the title role in Verdi’s Falstaff with the Amarillo Opera, Giorgio Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata with the Masterworks Festival in Winona Lake, Indiana, the Father in Hansel and Gretel with The Living Opera in Richardson, Texas, and the role of “Judge Turpin” in a concert performance of Sweeney Todd with Lyric Stage of Irving, Texas, at the Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas. Other recent performance include the role of King Melchior in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors with the Richardson Symphony and The Living Opera, Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra, and the role of Manoa in performances of Handel’s Samson under the direction of Dallas Opera Music Director Graeme Jenkins.

Dr. Snider has placed second in the Fort Worth Opera Guild’s Marguerite McCammon Competition and has been a recipient of a Dallas Opera Guild “Career Development Grant.” He has placed first in competitions sponsored by the National Opera Association and the Dallas/Fort Worth chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing. He has also been a regional finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Dr. Snider is the baritone soloist on the Klavier Music recording of Orff’s Carmina Burana with the North Texas Wind Symphony under the direction of Eugene Corporon.

Recording - Mozart- Vedrò mentr'io sospiro from Le Nozze di Figaro (alternate version)