Raymond Aceto

American bass Raymond Aceto has established a commanding presence among the world’s leading opera companies and symphony orchestras, earning both critical and popular acclaim. Highlights of Aceto’s 2025-26 season include a return to the role of Warden George Benton in Dead Man Walking at San Francisco Opera, a role he recently sang at the Metropolitan Opera, and to The Dallas Opera as Marquis de la Force in Dialogues of the Carmelites.

In the 2024-25 season, Aceto appeared as Abimélech in Samson et Dalila with New Orleans Opera, Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni with Opera Philadelphia, Sourin in The Queen of Spades at the Metropolitan Opera, and Daland in Der Fliegende Holländer with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra. Of his portrayal of Baron Scarpia, one of Aceto’s signature roles, the Houston Chronicle raved, “Raymond Aceto oozes suave villainy as the evil Baron Scarpia, his voice a dark rumble of menace and lust…intelligent characterization distinguishes Aceto’s Scarpia as more than a cartoon villain.” 

Recent highlights include his 2023-24 season-opening performances as Warden George Benton in the Metropolitan Opera’s first production of Dead Man Walking. He returned to Santa Fe Opera in the summer of 2023 as Arkel in Pelléas et Mélisande, then joined the Dallas Opera for Roméo et Juliette as Frère Laurent and performed Hunding in Die Walküre with both Atlanta Opera and the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra.

In the 2021-22 season, Aceto returned to Wolf Trap as soloist for their 50th Anniversary Celebration Gala, followed by his Seattle Opera appearance as Hunding in a special Die Walküre performance under Ludovic Morlot. He then joined the Lyric Opera of Chicago as the Captain in Daniel Catán’s Florencia en el Amazonas, directed by Francesca Zambello. At the Metropolitan Opera, he performed the Bonze in Madama Butterfly and Gremin in Eugene Onegin, and later returned to the Cleveland Orchestra as Lodovico in Verdi’s Otello.

His engagements in the 2020-21 season included scheduled performances as Zuniga in Carmen, Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni, and Warden George Benton in a new production of Dead Man Walking, all at the Metropolitan Opera; Leporello in Don Giovanni and The Fairy King in Wagner’s Die Feen at the Glimmerglass Festival; and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Cleveland Orchestra.

Recent seasons for the veteran bass include performances at Washington National Opera and the San Francisco Opera in Francesca Zambello’s RING Cycle; Méphistophélès in Gounod’s Faust at Washington National Opera; Rocco in Fidelio at the Opéra de Montréal under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin; New Orleans Opera as the Archbishop in Tchaikovsky’s Joan of Arc; and at the Metropolitan Opera for performances of Pique Dame, Les Pêcheurs de Perles, Carmen, and Madama Butterfly.

A frequent presence on the world’s international stages, Aceto performed in a new production of Nabucco for the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Shanghai Grand Theater, conducted by Daniel Oren. He also appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra on tour to Vienna’s Musikverein as Harasta in The Cunning Little Vixen under the baton of Music Director Franz Welser-Most and directed by Yuval Sharon. In 2015 he traveled to Japan with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Banquo in Macbeth and Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni with Sir Antonio Pappano conducting. A regular collaborator with leading symphony orchestras, he has recently been seen as a soloist for Verdi’s Requiem with the Oregon and Grand Rapids Symphonies, Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra under Music Director Ward Stare, and Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer with the St. Louis Symphony under Music Director David Robertson. 

His operatic appearances in the United States include Roméo et Juliette, La fanciulla del West, King Roger, and Rigoletto with Santa Fe Opera; Nabucco, Aida, Don Giovanni, and Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera; Nabucco, Macbeth, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Das Rheingold, Siegfried, Samson et Dalila, Les pêcheurs de perles, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Aida, Manon, and Boris Godunov with the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Macbeth, Aida, Turandot, Aida, and Susannah with the San Francisco Opera; Tosca, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Rigoletto, Lucia di Lammermoor, Simon Boccanegra, Boris Godunov, Carmen, Die Zauberflöte, and Don Giovanni with Houston Grand Opera; Don Giovanni, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, La bohème, Das Rheingold, Luisa Miller, and Die Zauberflöte with The Dallas Opera; Méphistophélès in Gounod’s Faust and Vodnik in Rusalka with New Orleans Opera; and Wagner’s RING Cycle at Washington National Opera. He has appeared in leading roles with the opera companies of Seattle, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Boston, Colorado, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, and Cleveland, as well as the opera festivals in St. Louis and Spoleto (USA).

On the international stage, Aceto has been seen in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Turandot, Rigoletto, and Il Trovatore at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Oroveso in Norma at the Gran Teatre del Liceu; Simone Boccanegra, Aida, and Carmen at Deutsche Oper Berlin; Aida at the Vienna Staatsoper; Il Trovatore at the Teatro Real Madrid; Rigoletto at the Netherlands Opera; Lucia di Lammermoor and Le Vêspres Sicilienne at Oper Frankfurt; Nabucco, Aida, and Carmen at the Arena di Verona; Scarpia in Tosca at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna; I due foscari at La Monnaie; Zaccaria in Nabucco at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze; Carmen at Teatro Massimo; Fidelio and Der fliegende Holländer at the Canadian Opera Company; and Rigoletto at L’Opéra de Montréal. 

In concert, Aceto has appeared with leading symphony orchestras across the world, including Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied with the Dallas Symphony; Szymanowski’s King Roger with the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Verdi’s Requiem with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, the New West Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Colorado Symphony, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at London’s Royal Albert Hall; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl; Beethoven’s Mass in C Major with the Cleveland Orchestra; Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Nashville Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony; Stravinsky’s Pulcinella and Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges with the San Francisco Symphony; Strauss’ Salome at the Tanglewood Festival; Beethoven’s Fidelio with the Minnesota Orchestra; Bizet’s Carmen with the St. Louis Symphony; and Gounod’s Faust with the Dallas Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra. He made his Alice Tully Hall debut as Balthazar in a concert performance of Donizetti’s La Favorite with L’Opéra Français de New York, and his Carnegie Hall debut as Andrea Cornaro in Caterina Cornaro with the Opera Orchestra of New York. 

A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Young Artist’s Development Program, the Ohio-born bass has appeared frequently with the company since his debut as the Jailer in Tosca during the 1992-1993 season. In 1995 and 1996, Mr. Aceto was awarded Richard Tucker Foundation Career Grants, and in 1994 he was a recipient of a Sullivan Foundation Award. In 1996, he traveled to Japan for performances and a recording of The Rake’s Progress with Seiji Ozawa conducting. Aceto can also be heard in the role of Capellio in Teldec’s recording of I Capuleti e i Montecchi.

A frequent presence on the world’s international stages, Aceto performed in a new production of Nabucco for the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Shanghai Grand Theater, conducted by Daniel Oren. He also appeared with the Cleveland Orchestra on tour to Vienna’s Musikverein as Harasta in The Cunning Little Vixen under the baton of Music Director Franz Welser-Most and directed by Yuval Sharon. In 2015 he traveled to Japan with the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden as Banquo in Macbeth and Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni with Sir Antonio Pappano conducting. A regular collaborator with leading symphony orchestras, he has recently been seen as a soloist for Verdi’s Requiem with the Oregon and Grand Rapids Symphonies, Bruckner’s Te Deum with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra under Music Director Ward Stare, and Wagner’s Der Fliegende Holländer with the St. Louis Symphony under Music Director David Robertson.

His operatic appearances in the United States include Roméo et Juliette, La fanciulla del West, King Roger, and Rigoletto with Santa Fe Opera; Nabucco, Aida, Don Giovanni, and Rigoletto at the Metropolitan Opera; Nabucco, Macbeth, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Das Rheingold, Siegfried, Samson et Dalila, Les pêcheurs de perles, Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, Aida, Manon, and Boris Godunov with the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Macbeth, Aida, Turandot, Aida, and Susannah with the San Francisco Opera; Tosca, L’incoronazione di Poppea, Rigoletto, Lucia di Lammermoor, Simon Boccanegra, Boris Godunov, Carmen, Die Zauberflöte, and Don Giovanni with Houston Grand Opera; Don Giovanni, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Lucia di Lammermoor, Rigoletto, La bohème, Das Rheingold, Luisa Miller, and Die Zauberflöte with The Dallas Opera; Méphistophélès in Gounod’s Faust and Vodnik in Rusalka with New Orleans Opera; and Wagner’s RING Cycle at Washington National Opera. He has appeared in leading roles with the opera companies of Seattle, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Baltimore, Boston, Colorado, Pittsburgh, North Carolina, and Cleveland, as well as the opera festivals in St. Louis and Spoleto (USA).

On the international stage, Aceto has been seen in Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Turandot, Rigoletto, and Il Trovatore at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; Oroveso in Norma at the Gran Teatre del Liceu; Simone Boccanegra, Aida, and Carmen at Deutsche Oper Berlin; Aida at the Vienna Staatsoper; Il Trovatore at the Teatro Real Madrid; Rigoletto at the Netherlands Opera; Lucia di Lammermoor and Le Vêspres Sicilienne at Oper Frankfurt; Nabucco, Aida, and Carmen at the Arena di Verona; Scarpia in Tosca at the Teatro Comunale di Bologna; I due foscari at La Monnaie; Zaccaria in Nabucco at the Teatro Comunale di Firenze; Carmen at Teatro Massimo; Fidelio and Der fliegende Holländer at the Canadian Opera Company; and Rigoletto at L’Opéra de Montréal.

In concert, Aceto has appeared with leading symphony orchestras across the world, including Mahler’s Das Klagende Lied with the Dallas Symphony; Szymanowski’s King Roger with the Boston Symphony Orchestra; Verdi’s Requiem with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, the New West Symphony, Phoenix Symphony, Colorado Symphony, and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra at London’s Royal Albert Hall; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Dallas Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl; Beethoven’s Mass in C Major with the Cleveland Orchestra; Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the Nashville Symphony and the San Francisco Symphony; Stravinsky’s Pulcinella and Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges with the San Francisco Symphony; Strauss’ Salome at the Tanglewood Festival; Beethoven’s Fidelio with the Minnesota Orchestra; Bizet’s Carmen with the St. Louis Symphony; and Gounod’s Faust with the Dallas Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra. He made his Alice Tully Hall debut as Balthazar in a concert performance of Donizetti’s La Favorite with L’Opéra Français de New York, and his Carnegie Hall debut as Andrea Cornaro in Caterina Cornaro with the Opera Orchestra of New York.

A graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Young Artist’s Development Program, the Ohio-born bass has appeared frequently with the company since his debut as the Jailer in Tosca during the 1992-1993 season. In 1995 and 1996, Aceto was awarded Richard Tucker Foundation Career Grants, and in 1994 he was a recipient of a Sullivan Foundation Award. In 1996, he traveled to Japan for performances and a recording of The Rake’s Progress with Seiji Ozawa conducting. Aceto can also be heard in the role of Capellio in Teldec’s recording of I Capuleti e i Montecchi.