Baritone EARLE PATRIARCO began a strong relationship with the Metropolitan Opera when he sang the title role in Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia at the Metropolitan Opera following his debut in the house as Ping in Turandot in January 1996. Patriarco has since returned as Belcore in L'elisir d'amore; Falke in Die Fledermaus; The Husband in Les mamelles de Tirésias, and the Grandfather Clock in L'enfant et les sortilèges, both conducted by James Levine; Marcello and Schaunard in La bohème; Nachtigall in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg; and more performances of Figaro (in the house and in the parks) and Ping.

Next season sees Patriarco returning to the Metropolitan Opera for more performances of La bohème and Meistersinger, debuting at both the Monnaie Opera as Marcello in La bohème and the Frankfurt Opera as Lescaut in Manon, and returning to the Houston Grand Opera as Figaro.

Past engagements have included Figaro at the Seattle Opera, the Welsh National Opera, and the Boston Lyric Opera; Marcello at Los Angeles Opera; Lescaut at the Dallas Opera; Belcore in L'elisir d'amore at the Houston Grand Opera; Papageno in Die Zauberflöte at the Boston Lyric Opera; Marcello at the Stuttgart Staatstheater and the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich; Valentin in Faust at l'Opéra National de Paris (Bastille); Marcello at the Berlin Staatsoper; and Belcore at Madrid's Teatro Real.

On the concert platform, Patriarco recently appeared as baritone soloist in Carmina Burana with the Atlanta Symphony and Donald Runnicles, which was recorded and released on CD by Telarc. Other concert engagements have included Vaughan Williams' Sea Symphony with Charles Dutoit and the Montreal Symphony, and the Brahms German Requiem at the 1999 Prague Autumn Festival.

Earle Patriarco recently recorded Lescaut for the EMI label, with Antonio Pappano conducting and featuring Roberto Alagna and Angela Gheorgiu. This recording won the 2001 Gramophone Award for Best Opera and was nominated for the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording.

Earle Patriarco was born in Southern California. He earned his Bachelor of Music degree from Biola University and received his Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California.