BIOGRAPHY
Praised by Opera Today for his “sizable lyric instrument” and “honeyed tone on all registers”, Arnold Livingston Geis is a graduate of Washington National Opera’s prestigious Cafritz Young Artist Program. In the 2023/24 season, Geis begins as tenor soloist with the Phoenix Symphony's Carmina Burana and he returns to Lincoln Center, making his NY Philharmonic debut creating the role of Josef in Aaron Zigman's Oratorio Émigré (US premiere) after singing the World Premiere in Shanghai, China with the Shanghai Philharmonic. Recording with Deutsche Grammaphon to follow. Geis created the role of Mr. Marks in Lynn Nottage and Ricky Ian Gordon’s Intimate Apparel with Lincoln Center Theater in the 2021/22 Season. He also sings Agamemnon in Wayne Shorter & Esperanza Spalding’s Iphigenia at MASSMOCA, The Majestic Theater in Boston, and the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C. Geis' recent season included Obadiah in Mendelssohn’s Elijah with Concordia University in Orange County, CA and Beadle in Sweeney Todd with Opera Saratoga, and finished the summer at the Hollywood Bowl as a tenor soloist in Orff's Carmina Burana with the LA Philharmonic conducted by Gustavo Dudamel. Geis began the 2022/23 season with Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore with Pacific Opera Project and the tenor soloist in Haydn’s The Creation with the Los Angeles Master Chorale at Walt Disney Concert Hall. He sings Rodolpho in La Bohéme with Greensboro Opera, The Shepherd in Tristan und Isolde with the LA Philharmonic, Handel's Messiah with The Dream Orchestra, Tamino in The Magic Flute with Pacific Opera Project, Pirelli in Chautauqua Opera's Sweeney Todd, and ended the season at the Hollywood Bowl as a tenor soloist with the LA Phil in Chris Thile's Attention!
Mr. Geis joined Washington National Opera for Jonathan Dale in Silent Night, Gastone in La Traviata, and Busdriver/New Preacher in Kamala Sankaram and Jerry Dye’s world premiere and Washington Classical Reviews Best New Opera (2019), Taking Up Serpents. He also sang Nikolaus Sprink in Silent Night with Glimmerglass Opera, Arnold Murray in The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing with Chicago Opera Theater, Tamino in The Magic Flute, Rodolfo in La Bohéme, and Ramiro in La Cenerentola with Pacific Opera Project. While a Young Artist at Washington National Opera, he also sang Oronte in Alcina (Cafritz Young Artist Performance), Snake and Vain Man in The Little Prince, Miles in the world premiere of Missy Mazzoli and Royce Vavrek’s Proving Up, and Count Almaviva in Il barbiere di Siviglia (Cafritz Young Artist Performance). Mr. Geis created the role of Corpsman Harris in the world premiere of Heather Raffo and Tobin Stokes’ Fallujah with Long Beach Opera, and later reprised the role with New York City Opera.
His other performances include Ernesto in Don Pasquale and Apollo in L’Orfeo with Chautauqua Opera, Parpignol in La bohème and First man in I pagliacci with Los Angeles Opera, George Power in the world premiere of A Touch of Poetry with Opera A La Carte, Satyaván in Holst’s Savitri with Pasadena Pro Musica, Vanderdendur/King in Candide with Long Beach Opera, Peter Quint in The Turn of the Screw with Opera on the Avalon, Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with Pasadena Schubertiade, and Duck in Alice in Wonderland with L.A. Philharmonic and L.A. Opera, and Count in I due Figaro with UCLA Opera Theater.
On the concert stage, Mr. Geis has performed Gitzy Razaz in the world premiere of Flight of Faith with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Pasadena Symphony, Handel’s Messiah with Salastina Music Society, and Britten’s Canticle III with Pacific Palisades Chamber Ensemble. He has also sung Handel’s Alexander’s Feast, Messiah, and Beethoven’s Missa solemnis with the L.A. Master Chorale. In the 2021/22 season he sings an evening of Donizetti with Opera Buffs LA performing the first half of both Edgardo in Lucia di Lammermoor and Tonio in La Fille du regiment. In addition to his work in the classical sphere, Mr. Geis is a member of both SAG-AFTRA and Actors' Equity unions, and has recorded solo vocals for many television projects, including popular shows like Tom and Jerry and Family Guy, and has also sung for such blockbuster film soundtracks as The Jungle Book, Sing, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Star Wars: Rogue One, Fifty Shades of Grey, Minions, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, and Disney’s live-action films of The Lion King and Mulan.
Mr. Geis is a graduate of the Cafritz Young Artist Program, has been an Apprentice Artist with Chautauqua Opera, a Young Artist with Opera on the Avalon and Glimmerglass Opera, and an Apprentice Artist with Bel Canto at Caramoor. He received his Master of Music from the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California and his Bachelor of Music from Biola University.
SAG-AFTRA, AGMA, AEA