Philip Cokorinos
Hailed by Opera News for his “comedic high jinks” and “first-rate singing,” Philip Cokorinos was winner of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions in 1985 and went on to sing his début during the Met’s 1987-1988 season. Since then, he appeared in more than 400 performances of 40 operas at the Met, including “Live from the Met” telecasts of Don Giovanni; the world premiere of The Ghosts of Versailles; and the Met’s premieres of Sly, Cyrano de Bergerac, The Gambler, and Shostakovich’s verismo expressionist opera Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, to name a few. He appeared many times in their productions of the standard repertoire, including Tosca, La Bohème, La fanciulla del West, La Traviata, Adriana Lecouvreur, La rondine, Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Macbeth, Manon, Don Carlo, Tosca, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Gianni Schicchi, Manon Lescaut, and Le nozze di Figaro. The Metropolitan Opera Live in HD broadcasts have included Manon, La fanciulla del West, The Nose, Werther, Manon Lescaut, Le nozze di Figaro, La Bohème, and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk.
Cokorinos’s tenure at the Metropolitan Opera continued last season with engagements such as Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, La Bohème, and Tosca. Cokorinos also performed the Sacristan in Tosca at Los Angeles Opera and Benoit/Alcindoro in La Bohème at the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy, in addition to joining San Diego Opera’s long-awaited Gianni Schicchi as Simone. This season, he joins Anchorage Opera as Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore, The Atlanta Opera as Benoit/Alcindoro in La Bohème, and New York City Opera as Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette.
Outside of the Met, recent engagements for Cokorinos have included performances of Cappadocia, Slave, and 2nd Nazarene in Salome with Spoleto Festival USA and The Atlanta Opera, Sacristan in Tosca with Opera San Antonio, and Grandfather in the U.S. premiere of Martinů’s Julietta with American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. 2020 engagements were to include Simone in Gianni Schicchi with the San Diego Opera and a return to the Metropolitan Opera for La Bohème, the Sacristan in Tosca, and Johann in Werther. In the spring of 2021, he returned to the stage with Austin Opera for the Sacristan in Tosca.
A house favorite with Los Angeles Opera, he’s appeared many times with the company including a triumphant return for their “Beaumarchais Trilogy,” singing Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro, and Pasha in The Ghosts of Versailles, all under Maestro James Conlon. He later returned as Betto di Signa in their production of Gianni Schicchi/Pagliacci. Other roles with the house include Benoit/Alcindoro in La Bohème, Baron Duphol in La Traviata, the Sacristan in Tosca, Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin, Duke of Verona in Roméo et Juliette, Zuniga in Carmen, Bitterolf in Tannhäuser, and Ser Amantio di Nicolao in Gianni Schicchi with director Woody Allen.
Elsewhere, he performed the title role in Don Pasquale with Opera Santa Barbara and Anchorage Opera. With New York City Opera, Cokorinos performed the roles of Archibaldo in L’amore dei tre re, the Priest in La campana sommersa, and made his role début as Riolobo in Florencia en el Amazonas. He sang Daland in Der fliegende Holländer with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and he added Swallow in Peter Grimes to his many roles with Chautauqua Opera, which include Méphistophélès in Faust, Oroveso in Norma, the Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen, and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor. With Opera Colorado, he sang Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola and the Sacristan in Tosca; with the Spoleto Festival USA, he sang Coley in Flora and Capellio in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi; and with Central City Opera, he sang Don Marco in The Saint of Bleecker Street, Pandolfe in Cendrillon, and his most frequently performed role, Leporello in Don Giovanni.
Additional North American engagements include Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette with Opera Carolina and Nashville Opera; Rocco in Fidelio with Palm Beach Opera; Timur in Turandot with Florida Grand Opera; Banquo in Macbeth with Edmonton Opera; Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Calgary Opera and Opera Lyra Ottawa; Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte with Atlanta Opera; and multiple productions with Glimmerglass Opera, including Il matrimonio segreto, Le comte Ory, Il barbiere di Siviglia, and La finta giardiniera.
On the concert stage, Cokorinos’ notable symphonic appearances include Haydn’s Creation and Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall, Herod in Berlioz’ L’enfance du Christ telecast with NHK Symphony in Tokyo. He appeared in concert with the Minnesota Orchestra; Cincinnati May Festival; Spoleto Festival USA; Spokane Symphony; The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; Jacksonville Symphony; the Little Orchestra Society of New York; and in several performances with Opera Orchestra of New York including Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, Raimondo in Wagner’s Rienzi, Rochefort in Anna Bolena, Astarote in Armida, Cardinal de Brogni in La Juive, the Prefect in Linda di Chamounix, Capellio in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, staged in the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
His discography includes two works of Hector Berlioz with the Montreal Symphony under Charles Dutoit: Herod in L’enfance du Christ and Wagner in Huit Scenes de Faust, both released on DECCA. He can also be heard on the world-premiere recording of Stephen Paulus’ oratorio To Be Certain of the Dawn with the Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vanska, and the Grammy Award-winning recording of Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles with Los Angeles Opera.
Cokorinos’s tenure at the Metropolitan Opera continued last season with engagements such as Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, La Bohème, and Tosca. Cokorinos also performed the Sacristan in Tosca at Los Angeles Opera and Benoit/Alcindoro in La Bohème at the Seiji Ozawa Music Academy, in addition to joining San Diego Opera’s long-awaited Gianni Schicchi as Simone. This season, he joins Anchorage Opera as Dulcamara in L’elisir d’amore, The Atlanta Opera as Benoit/Alcindoro in La Bohème, and New York City Opera as Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette.
Outside of the Met, recent engagements for Cokorinos have included performances of Cappadocia, Slave, and 2nd Nazarene in Salome with Spoleto Festival USA and The Atlanta Opera, Sacristan in Tosca with Opera San Antonio, and Grandfather in the U.S. premiere of Martinů’s Julietta with American Symphony Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. 2020 engagements were to include Simone in Gianni Schicchi with the San Diego Opera and a return to the Metropolitan Opera for La Bohème, the Sacristan in Tosca, and Johann in Werther. In the spring of 2021, he returned to the stage with Austin Opera for the Sacristan in Tosca.
A house favorite with Los Angeles Opera, he’s appeared many times with the company including a triumphant return for their “Beaumarchais Trilogy,” singing Bartolo in Il barbiere di Siviglia, Antonio in Le nozze di Figaro, and Pasha in The Ghosts of Versailles, all under Maestro James Conlon. He later returned as Betto di Signa in their production of Gianni Schicchi/Pagliacci. Other roles with the house include Benoit/Alcindoro in La Bohème, Baron Duphol in La Traviata, the Sacristan in Tosca, Zaretsky in Eugene Onegin, Duke of Verona in Roméo et Juliette, Zuniga in Carmen, Bitterolf in Tannhäuser, and Ser Amantio di Nicolao in Gianni Schicchi with director Woody Allen.
Elsewhere, he performed the title role in Don Pasquale with Opera Santa Barbara and Anchorage Opera. With New York City Opera, Cokorinos performed the roles of Archibaldo in L’amore dei tre re, the Priest in La campana sommersa, and made his role début as Riolobo in Florencia en el Amazonas. He sang Daland in Der fliegende Holländer with Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and he added Swallow in Peter Grimes to his many roles with Chautauqua Opera, which include Méphistophélès in Faust, Oroveso in Norma, the Forester in The Cunning Little Vixen, and Raimondo in Lucia di Lammermoor. With Opera Colorado, he sang Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola and the Sacristan in Tosca; with the Spoleto Festival USA, he sang Coley in Flora and Capellio in Bellini’s I Capuleti e i Montecchi; and with Central City Opera, he sang Don Marco in The Saint of Bleecker Street, Pandolfe in Cendrillon, and his most frequently performed role, Leporello in Don Giovanni.
Additional North American engagements include Frère Laurent in Roméo et Juliette with Opera Carolina and Nashville Opera; Rocco in Fidelio with Palm Beach Opera; Timur in Turandot with Florida Grand Opera; Banquo in Macbeth with Edmonton Opera; Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia with Calgary Opera and Opera Lyra Ottawa; Don Alfonso in Così fan tutte with Atlanta Opera; and multiple productions with Glimmerglass Opera, including Il matrimonio segreto, Le comte Ory, Il barbiere di Siviglia, and La finta giardiniera.
On the concert stage, Cokorinos’ notable symphonic appearances include Haydn’s Creation and Handel’s Messiah at Carnegie Hall, Herod in Berlioz’ L’enfance du Christ telecast with NHK Symphony in Tokyo. He appeared in concert with the Minnesota Orchestra; Cincinnati May Festival; Spoleto Festival USA; Spokane Symphony; The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra; Jacksonville Symphony; the Little Orchestra Society of New York; and in several performances with Opera Orchestra of New York including Don Magnifico in La Cenerentola, Raimondo in Wagner’s Rienzi, Rochefort in Anna Bolena, Astarote in Armida, Cardinal de Brogni in La Juive, the Prefect in Linda di Chamounix, Capellio in I Capuleti e i Montecchi, and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte, staged in the Temple of Dendur at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
His discography includes two works of Hector Berlioz with the Montreal Symphony under Charles Dutoit: Herod in L’enfance du Christ and Wagner in Huit Scenes de Faust, both released on DECCA. He can also be heard on the world-premiere recording of Stephen Paulus’ oratorio To Be Certain of the Dawn with the Minnesota Orchestra under Osmo Vanska, and the Grammy Award-winning recording of Corigliano’s The Ghosts of Versailles with Los Angeles Opera.
