Biography

Baritone PETER KENDALL CLARK is a distinguished interpreter of opera and musical theater who also excels in traditional concert and song repertoire. Peter created the role of Ermanno Finzi-Contini in the world premiere of The Garden Of The Finzi-Continis by Ricky Ian Gordon and Michael Korie, a co-production with New York City Opera and The National Yiddish Theatre Folksbiene. He also recently appeared in the New York premiere of Tom Cipullo’s The Parting as the Hungarian poet Miklós Radnóti, presented by Chelsea Opera. He has created roles in numerous world premieres, portraying Older Erich in Ted Rosenthal’s jazz opera Dear Erich with New York City Opera, garnering praise from The New York Times’ Anthony Tommasini for bringing “gravity and an earthy sound” to his “impressive” performance. He also created the role of Jehovah in Mark Blitzstein’s Cain, in which the New York Times singled out his singing as “stylish and properly stentorian.” Over the past two decades, Mr. Clark has had return engagements with New York City Opera, Virginia Opera, Caramoor Opera, Ashlawn Opera, Syracuse Opera, St. Petersburg Opera, Chelsea Opera, and Skylight Music Theatre.

As a musical theater actor, Mr. Clark has equal affinity with dramatic, comic and romantic roles such as Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance (Skylight Opera Theater), Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun, Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, King Arthur in Camelot (Ashlawn Opera), and Fredrik in A Little Night Music (Syracuse Opera). OPERA NEWS singled him out for his performance in DiCapo Opera’s The Most Happy Fella:  “a strapping, energetic Joe (whose) soothingly sexy rendition of “Don’t Cry” was, in its way, the most memorable vocal moment in the show.” His performances as Sweeney Todd at St. Petersburg Opera and Hawaii Opera Theater were also richly praised. The Tampa Bay Times singled him out as a Todd who “not only sang gorgeously…but also displayed the dramatic range and comic timing…to turn the blackness of the tale into something transcendent”. He has also been in demand for his “likably vulnerable King Arthur” (Virginian Pilot), which he first performed at Ashlawn Opera and, subsequently, at Virginia Opera.

Mr. Clark made his debut with New York City Opera in their sold out production of Candide, directed by Harold Prince, who cast him in an array of comic roles. Since then he has been a regular with the company, appearing as Older Erich in the world premiere of Dear Erich, and as Officer Cahn in the world premiere of Iain Bell/Mark Campbell’s Stonewall among others. Other recent performances include the Baron/Inquisitor/Slave Captain/Pasha Prefect at Anchorage Opera, a return to St. Petersburg Opera as Harold Hill in The Music Man, Harry Easter in Street Scene with Virginia Opera, Vaughan Williams Five Mystical Songs and Fauré Requiem with Grace Chorale, Bach b minor Mass with Helena Symphony, MacHeath in the Threepenny Opera at Syracuse Opera, Older Thompson in Glory Denied and Fredrik Eggerman in A Little Night Music at Union Avenue Opera, and Older Thompson in Glory Denied at Opera Roanoke.

Since May of 2020 he has given nearly 300 outdoor concerts in Brooklyn Heights and in New Rochelle in his weekly community concert series Songs From The Ledge which The New York Post has called “the hottest ticket in town!” Deborah Norville of CBS Inside Edition: “Call him the ‘Brownstone Baritone’. Once a week Peter Kendall Clark gets on a stoop in Brooklyn and the magic begins!” As the “Brownstone Baritone” he has also been profiled on ABC News, Only Good Heroes for OGTV, Voice Of America, The New York Post, Japan’s Public Television’s (NHK) Catch! World Top News, and WQXR’s New York in Concert. With his collaborator Alex Rybeck, he continues to perform his one-man show around the country.

Last season Mr. Clark made his Carnegie Hall debut as the Shopkeeper in Eric Whitacre’s The Gift of the Magi. He subsequently covered the baritone soloist in the NYC premiere of Lera Auerbach’s Symphony no. 6 “Vessels of Light” presented by NYCO at Carnegie Hall. Recently he made a triumphant return to Union Avenue Opera as Malatesta in Don Pasquale and made his debut with Opera Company of Middlebury as Older Thompson in his fourth production of Tom Cipullo’s Glory Denied. Upcoming: El Gallo in the ‘boy meets boy’ Fantasticks at Tri-Cities Opera and a reprise of Glory Denied with Chelsea Opera.