Kevin Deas

Bass-Baritone

  • Internationally acclaimed bass-baritone Kevin Deas is recognized as one of America’s leading vocal artists. He is especially celebrated for his signature portrayal of the title role in Porgy and Bess, which he has performed with many of North America’s foremost orchestras, including the New York Philharmonic, Philadelphia Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and Pacific Symphony, as well as at the Ravinia, Vail, and Saratoga festivals.

    Highlights of Mr. Deas’ 2026–2027 season include performances of Candy in Carlisle Floyd’s Of Mice and Men with Des Moines Opera; Mozart’s Mass in C Minor with ProMusica Columbus; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the West Virginia Symphony and Omaha Symphony; Handel’s Messiah with the Washington National Cathedral Choir and Baroque Orchestra; Mozart’s Requiem with Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin; Verdi’s Requiem with Virgina Symphony, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park and Orchestra Iowa; and Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Oratorio Society of New York.

    Recent seasons have showcased Mr. Deas as one of the most sought-after bass-baritones in the concert repertoire. He has appeared in Mozart’s Requiem with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Apollo’s Fire, Les Violons du Roy, Orchestra Iowa, Vermont Symphony, Mobile Symphony, Eugene Symphony, Louisiana Philharmonic, and National Philharmonic & Chorale; Handel’s Messiah with the New York Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and Washington National Cathedral; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Pacific Symphony, Oregon Symphony, and the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park; and Haydn’s The Creation with the Minnesota Orchestra and Baton Rouge Symphony.

    Additional recent engagements include Stravinsky’s Pulcinella with The Florida Orchestra; Saint-Saëns’ Henry VIII with Odyssey Opera; Verdi’s Requiem with Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería and the Rhode Island Philharmonic; Walton’s Façade at the Virginia Arts Festival; and Mozart’s Grand Mass in C Minor with Voices of Ascension. He also performed Dick Hallorann in Paul Moravec’s acclaimed opera The Shining with Nashville Opera, appeared in programs featuring music of Gershwin, Les Misérables, Show Boat, and Ragtime, and was featured in “The Spiritual in White America” at The Phillips Collection.

    Throughout his distinguished career, Mr. Deas has performed with many of North America’s leading orchestras and presenters. Notable appearances include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Buffalo Philharmonic and Orquesta Sinfónica de Minería; Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius with the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico; Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with the Oratorio Society of New York and Grand Rapids Symphony; Bach’s St. John Passion with the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park, Louisiana Philharmonic, and Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de México; Mozart’s Requiem with Boston Baroque and numerous American orchestras; and Handel’s Messiah with ensembles including the Cleveland Orchestra, Boston Baroque, Kansas City Symphony, Seattle Symphony, and the Warsaw Easter Festival.

    A frequent interpreter of Porgy and Bess, Mr. Deas has sung the title role with the Duisburger Philharmoniker, Pacific Symphony on tour in Asia, and in Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture with the Reading Symphony Orchestra. Other notable collaborations include Bernstein’s Wonderful Town with the Seattle Symphony, Joe Horowitz’s Dvořák in America project with the Las Vegas Philharmonic, and appearances as soloist with the Delaware Symphony, El Paso Symphony, and PostClassical Ensemble, where he served as Artist-in-Residence.

    A dedicated advocate for contemporary music, Mr. Deas appeared at Italy’s Spoleto Festival in a new production of Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, created in honor of the composer’s eighty-fifth birthday and released internationally on video. He also premiered Derek Bermel’s The Good Life with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Hannibal Lokumbe’s Dear Mrs. Parks with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

    Mr. Deas enjoyed a twenty-year artistic collaboration with jazz legend Dave Brubeck, performing To Hope! in Salzburg, Vienna, and Moscow, and appearing in a gala performance of Brubeck’s Gates of Justice in New York.

    His extensive discography includes Wagner’s Die Meistersinger with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under Sir Georg Solti (Decca/London); Varèse’s Ecuatorial with the ASKO Ensemble conducted by Riccardo Chailly; Bach’s Mass in B Minor and Handel’s Acis and Galatea (Vox Classics); Brubeck’s To Hope! with the Cathedral Choral Society (Telarc); Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the Virginia Symphony and Boston Baroque (Linn Records); and Dvořák in America (Naxos), featuring the world-premiere recording of Dvořák’s Hiawatha Melodrama and the composer’s own arrangement of “Goin’ Home” with the PostClassical Ensemble.

    9/2026 - PLEASE DESTROY ALL PREVIOUSLY DATED MATERIALS.

  • February 29, 2020: Kevin Deas Performs in Album Release ‘Power of Romanticism and Resurrection’
    - Spotify

    October 9, 2019: Kevin Deas Performs ‘Porgy and Bess’ with the Metropolitan Opera
    - The American Scholar

  • REVIEW: ‘MESSIAH’ BRINGS THE NEW YORK PHILHARMONIC TO CHURCH
    The formidable bass-baritone Kevin Deas brought chilling fervor to “Why do the nations so furiously rage together,” yet exuded palpable joy in “The trumpet shall sound.”
    – Anthony Tommasini, New York Times

    GERSHWIN MUSIC GETS PERFORMANCE IT DESERVES FROM READING SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
    “that beautiful performance, and the soloists – pianist Simon Mulligan, in a return visit after 17 years; soprano Julie-Ann Whitely Green; and bass-baritone Kevin Deas – couldn’t have been better chosen…The second half was devoted to excerpts from “Porgy and Bess,” with Deas and Green portraying the title characters, as well as Clara, Serena, Jake and Sportin’ Life, in a memorable performance that made me wish I could see them starring in the entire opera.”
    – Susan L. Pena, Reading Eagle

    REVIEW: POSTCLASSICAL ENSEMBLE’S ‘DEEP RIVER: THE ART OF THE SPIRITUAL’ AT THE WASHINGTON NATIONAL CATHEDRAL
    “What was crystal clear from the start, however, was the powerful impact of Kevin Deas, bass-baritone soloist, upon the entire presentation.”
    – Ramona Harper, DC Metro Theater Arts

    ‘PORGY AND BESS’ CELEBRATES THE TENACITY OF BLACK AMERICA
    “If you missed the recent performance at The Music Center at Strathmore of George Gershwin’s opera “Porgy and Bess” and featured an all-Black cast in the major singing roles, you missed a jewel of a concert.”
    – D. Kevin McNeir, Washington Informer

    ‘PORGY’ AND ‘SIMON’: TWO WORKS TRYING TO FOLD BLACK EXPERIENCE INTO WESTERN CANON
    “What theatrical verve came across was thanks to the soloists. Director Michael Bobbitt’s spare yet effective staging created more than a whiff of Catfish Row, and drew three-dimensional characterizations from the strong soloists, even in formal concert dress…

    With his elegant delivery and gently rolling bass-baritone, Kevin Deas emphasized the basic decency and civility in Porgy.”
    – Anne Midgette and Joe Banno, The Washington Post

    MOZART’S LAST SYMPHONIC AND CHORAL UTTERANCES
    Highlights of the Tuba mirum section of the Sequence were the successive solo stanzas by bass, tenor, mezzo, and soprano; Steven Lundahl was the trombone soloist in resonant partnership with Kevin Deas.
    – Virginia Newes, The Boston Musical Intelligencer

    BACH’S ‘ST. JOHN PASSION’ HAS MORE HUMANITY THAN ANTI-SEMITISM
    “Mr. Keene had a superb Jesus in the bass-baritone Kevin Deas.”
    – James R. Oestreich, The New York Times

  • Orchestral Repertoire

    KEVIN DEAS bass-baritone

    Orchestral Repertoire

    Bach
    Christmas Oratorio (Baroque pitch only)
    Magnificat
    Mass in B-minor (Baroque pitch only)
    St. Matthew Passion (arias and all bass roles)
    St. John Passion (Christus)

    Beethoven
    Mass in C-Major
    Missa Solemnis
    The Ruins of Athens
    Symphony No. 9

    Brahms
    Ein Deutsches Requiem

    Copland
    Old American Songs (Books 1 and 2)

    Dvořák
    Requiem
    Stabat Mater

    Elgar
    The Dream of Gerontius

    Fauré
    Requiem

    Gershwin
    Porgy and Bess (Bennett and Litton concert versions)

    Glass
    The Passion of Ramakrishna

    Handel
    Messiah
    Israel in Egypt

    Haydn
    The Creation
    Lord Nelson Mass
    Paukenmesse
    Mahler
    Symphony No. 8 (bass only)

    Mendelssohn
    Elijah

    Moravec
    Blizzard Voices

    Mozart
    Great Mass in C-minor
    Requiem

    Puccini
    Gloria

    Rossini
    Stabat Mater

    Telemann
    Der Schulmeister

    Verdi
    Requiem

    Walton
    Belshazzar's Feast

    ***

    Opera Repertoire

    Beeson
    Lizzie Borden (Jason McFarlane)

    Donizetti
    Lucia di Lammermoor (Raimondo)

    Floyd
    Of Mice and Men (George)

    Gounod
    Roméo et Juliette (Gregorio)

    Handel
    Acis and Galatea (Polyphemus)
    Agrippina (Claudio), (Pallante)
    Ottone (Emireno)
    Partenope (Arsace)
    Radamisto (Tiridate)
    Serse (Ariodate)
    Tolomeo (Araspe)

    Monteverdi
    L’Orfeo (Plutone)

    Mozart
    Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni),
    (Leporello), (Masetto)
    Le Nozze di Figaro (Figaro)
    Der Schauspieldirektor (Buff)

    Puccini
    Gianni Schicchi (Betto)
    La Bohème (Colline), (Schaunard)
    La Fanciulla del West (Ashby)

    Purcell
    Dido and Aeneas (Aeneas)

    Rossini
    Il Turco in Italia (Selim)
    Il Viaggio a Rheims (Don Alvaro)

    Stravinksy
    The Rake’s Progress (Nick Shadow)

    Tchaikovsky
    Eugene Onegin (Gremin)

    Verdi
    Ernani (Silva)

    Weill
    Street Scene (Frank Maurrant)

    *Updated January 2024

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