Gary Lehman

Who is Gary Lehman?

Gary Lehman is an American operatic tenor, specialising in the Heldentenor repertoire.

He initially trained as a baritone at Youngstown State University, continued his studies at Indiana University, and as a member of the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists gave 90 performances with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. In 1995, he sang the lead tenor role of Herman in The Queen of Spades. From the 1990s into the next decade he sang baritone roles such as the Count in The Marriage of Figaro and Ford in Falstaff.

He made his debut in the Heldentenor fach in 2005, replacing Plácido Domingo as the title role in Parsifal for Los Angeles Opera. The following year he sang Samson in Samson et Dalila.

Lehman's next Wagner performances were in the title role in Tannhauser in March 2007. A year later he made his both his Metropolitan Opera and role debuts in Tristan und Isolde. He repeated the role with the Mariinsky Opera in June 2008 and with Leipzig Opera in January 2009, and gave concert performances with the Philharmonia Orchestra throughout Europe in August and September 2010.