Bass-baritone PHILIP SKINNER has enjoyed an ever expanding and successful career on the operatic stage and in the concert hall. He has sung in Aida and Billy Budd with Dallas Opera and in Salome with San Diego Opera. Concertgoers heard him in Handel Messiah with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and as Tiresias Oedipus Rex and as Ramfis Aida, both with the San Jose Symphony Orchestra. During the past five seasons he has been a regular guest with Opera de Nantes, performing roles such as Goryanchikov From the House of the Dead, Il Conte Le Nozze di Figaro, Hagen Götterdämmerung and La Roche Capriccio for Opéra de Nantes. He appeared with the Spoleto Festival in Charleston as Besso Giasone by Cavalli, again with Dallas Opera as Tom Un Ballo in Maschera and sang Raimondo Lucia di Lammermoor for Walnut Creek Festival Opera.

In January 1999 Philip Skinner completed his thirteenth season with San Francisco Opera since his debut in 1985. He has sung over 30 roles with the company including the Water Sprite Rusalka, Ferrando Il Trovatore, Colline La Boheme, Lorenzo I Capuleti E I Montecchi, Crespel Les Contes D'hoffmann, Mephistopheles Faust and most recently 1st Workman Wozzeck. In recent seasons he has sung King Philip Don Carlo with Portland Opera, Colline La Boheme and Ferrando Il Trovatore with Dallas Opera, Timur Turandot with Atlanta Opera and has appeared with the Lyric Opera of Chicago and Washington Opera. His recent international credits include Monterone Rigoletto with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, The Four Villains Les Contes d'Hoffmann with the Victoria State Opera in Melbourne, the Speaker Die Zauberflöte with Vancouver Opera and First Soldier in Salome with Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. He also successfully performed with the opera companies of Houston as Figaro Le Nozze di Figaro and the Four Villains Les Contes d'Hoffmann and with the opera companies of Seattle, Louisville, Toronto, Edmonton and others. Future engagements include La Bailli Werther for Walnut Creek Opera, Escamillo Carmen and First Soldier Salome in Hawaii and Don Basilio Barbiere for both Washington and Minnesota Opera. He will also sing Theseus A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the Teatro di San Carlo di Napoli.

Equally prolific in the concert hall, Philip Skinner has performed the Verdi Messa Da Requiem at Carnegie Hall with the Masterworks Chorale and in Europe with the Budapest Symphony Orchestra. He sang Beethoven Symphony No. 9 at the Hollywood Bowl and with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. He performed The Lord Nelson Mass at the Spoleto Festival in Italy and Handel Messiah, Mozart Requiem, Haydn Creation and other concert pieces with the Minnesota Orchestra, San Jose Symphony Orchestra, Honolulu Symphony Orchestra, Columbus Symphony Orchestra, Savannah Symphony Orchestra and the Lancaster Festival. He can be seen on video in San Francisco Opera's L'africaine with Placido Domingo, in Seattle Opera's War and Peace, in Canadian Opera's Tosca and heard on the Spoleto Festival's recording of Antony and Cleopatra. A graduate of Northwestern University, Philip Skinner received his master's degree and the prestigious performance certificate from Indiana University.