Jacob Scharfman

American baritone Jacob Scharfman just joined the ensemble of Theater Lübeck. This season his roles include Heerrufer Lohengrin, Conte Le nozze di Figaro, Sid Albert Herring and Paolo Albiani Simone Boccanegra. Last season he made his house debut at Staatsoper Hannover as Demetrius A midsummer night’s dream and sang Steuermann Tristan und Isolde at Theater Chemnitz, where his scheduled role debuts as Vater Hänsel und Gretel and Escamillo Carmen were disrupted by covid-19.

2019-2020 Jacob Scharfman was an opera studio member at Opéra national du Rhin, where he performed Hunter/ Gamekeeper Rusalka, Ramiro L’heure espagnole and Le maître-nageur in the world premiere of the children’s opera Marlène Baleine. In 2019 he competed in the finals of the Toulouse International Singing Competition, was nominated for Best Male Newcomer by Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis 2020 and won First Prize in the National Opera Association Vocal Competition 2021.

As a member of the Gerard Mortier opera studio 2018-2019 at Salzburger Landestheater, Jacob Scharfman sang Guglielmo Cosi fan tutte, Masetto Don Giovanni, Lescaut and de Brétigny in Massenet’s Manon, Filippo in Rossini’s La gazzetta and Willem/Priest in Philip Glass’ The Trial. He won the Oratorio-Lied Prize at the Viñas Contest 2019 in Barcelona, appearing in the Winners’ Concert at Gran Teatre del Liceu.

Jacob Scharfman earned his Master of Music and a Novick Career Grant from The Juilliard School in 2018. During his studies he sang Nardo La finta giardiniera, Pallante in Händel’s Agrippina and covered the roles of Fluth in Nicolai’s Merry Wives of Windsor and Steward in Jonathan Dove’s Flight. In 2017 he was a Studio Artist with Central City Opera in Colorado and spent the summer of 2018 with the Merola Opera Program at San Francisco Opera, performing Nick Shadow The Rake’s Progress and Malatesta Don Pasquale.

Early operatic credits include Charlie in Jake Heggie’s Three Decembers with Opera Fayetteville, Rugby in Vaughan Williams’ Sir John in Love with Odyssey Opera and Mr. Webb in Ned Rorem’s Our Town with Boston Opera Collaborative. In concert he has sung Bach’s Cantatas and Matthäus-Passion, Brahms’ Deutsches Requiem, Fauré’s Requiem, Händel’s Israel in Egypt, Messiah, Joshua, Judas Maccabeus, Mendelssohn’s Paulus and Saint-Saens’ Christmas Oratorio. He participated in masterclasses with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Pablo Heras-Casado, both streamed at Medici.tv.