A A R O N S H O R T
B i o g r a p h y
Aaron Short, tenor, has been hailed by The New York Times as “simultaneously subtle and shattering” and by Opera News as a “robust, mature tenor that has the flexibility to be tender and plaintive one minute, then ringing and vibrant the next.” Highlights of his 23 – 24 season include the tenor soloist in the Verdi Requiem with Knoxville Symphony, Piquillo in Songbird with the Florentine Opera, covering Jason in Jason and the Argonauts with Lyric Opera of Chicago Unlimited, and the Narrator in The Christmas Carol with Chicago Fringe Opera.
In Spring 2022, Mr. Short made his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as the Servant to Amelia in Un ballo in maschera under the baton of Maestro Riccardo Muti. In 2021, Mr. Short joined Knoxville Opera for a series of summer concerts featuring selections from opera, oratorio, and musical theater. Additional credits in the 21 – 22 season, including Rodolfo in La bohème and Fabian in If I Were You at Northwestern University.
In early 2019, he performed the role of Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor with Knoxville Opera, later reprising the role with the Festival Lyrique-en-Mer for his European debut followed by his Dallas Opera debut as First Armored Man in Die Zauberflöte in the fall of 2019. In the fall of 2018, Mr. Short joined the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Lyric Unlimited to sing the role of Dr. Osborn in the Chicago premiere of Rhoda and the Fossil Hunt and later joined Chicago Opera Theater as Alméric in the Chicago premiere of Iolanta and Flask in Moby Dick.
In early 2018, Mr. Short joined Knoxville Opera on their education/community touring production of Turandot, performing the role of Calaf, and in April 2018 he made his joint company and role debut with Nashville Opera as Sam in Susannah. Recent concert engagements included a guest appearance as tenor soloist in Messiah with the University of Wisconsin–Parkside as well as debuts with the Racine Symphony as tenor soloist in the Mozart Requiem, with the Northwest Indiana Symphony on the concert program Showboat and Showtunes.
Mr. Short began the 2017-2018 season by joining Opera Theater Oregon as President Theodore Roosevelt in Two Yosemites, a new opera composed by Justin Ralls. In October 2017, he made his critically acclaimed debut with Knoxville Opera as a guest artist in the company's 40th anniversary celebratory performances. Mr. Short performed both in the company's Broadway/operetta gala and in their Hall of Fame gala, the latter of which featured him in over a century's worth of French and Italian repertoire ranging from Norma to Turandot.
Between 2016 and 2017 Mr. Short fulfilled a young artist residency with Portland Opera, where he made his critically acclaimed role debut as Lensky in Eugene Onegin and also appeared as Ferrando in the company's 2017 production of Così fan tutte. Further responsibilities with the company include performing the First Armored Man and covering Tamino in The Magic Flute, performing the Padre in Man of La Mancha, and covering Rodolfo in La bohème. Additionally, Mr. Short has appeared with guitarist John Charles Britton under the auspices of the Seattle Art Song Society, performing Die schöne Müllerin in Mr. Britton's arrangement for voice and guitar.
As an Apprentice Artist with Santa Fe Opera during the summers of 2014 and 2015, Mr. Short performed the First Prisoner in Fidelio and the Fourth Jew in Salome. Between 2013 and 2015, Mr. Short fulfilled a Studio Artist residency with Florentine Opera, performing the Steuermann in Der fliegende Holländer and Lockwood in Carlisle Floyd's Wuthering Heights, a production which the company documented on the opera's first-ever commercial recording. Mr. Short has also fulfilled young artist residencies with Chautauqua Opera, Wolf Trap Opera, Lyric Opera Studio Weimar, and Opera in the Ozarks.
Mr. Short is an instructor at Northwestern University and teaches private voice lessons at Senn High School through a tuition free weekly music instruction program funded through Michael Fabiono’s ArtSmart. As a Graduate Teaching Assistant, he taught private voice lessons at Northwestern University. He produced children’s operas with several CPS elementary schools as a Teaching Artist with Chicago Opera Theater. In the summers 2021, 2022 and 2023, he was a guest voice teacher at Northwestern University’s Intensive Vocal Performance Seminar. As a master class technician, he has worked with students at the Intensive Vocal Performance Seminar at Northwestern University, Hainan International Music Festival at Hainan University in China, and the Festival Lyrique-en-Mer in France.
A native of Kansas City, Missouri, Mr. Short is an alumnus of Wichita State University and Manhattan School of Music, where he performed the roles of Captain Bégearss (Corigliano's The Ghosts of Versailles), Nicias (Thaïs), and Jimmy Mahoney (Kurt Weill's Aufstieg und Fall der Stadt Mahagonny). Mr. Short is the recipient of several awards, most notably a 2018 George London Foundation Award, Grant Award from the Santa Fe Opera, the Singer of the Year Award at the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) West-Central Regional Competition, and Second Place at the Upper Midwest Regional Round of Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions. He currently resides in Chicago, IL, where he is pursuing a Doctorate of Musical Arts at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music with an anticipated completion date in the spring of 2024.