James Bobick has enjoyed a versatile career from performances of leading roles in the works of Donizetti, Verdi, and Mozart to leading contemporary characters in the operas of composers Jake Heggie, Mark Adamo, and John Eaton. Mr. Bobick has been seen in over 20 roles at New York City Opera including two Live from Lincoln Center telecasts and a Primetime Emmy-winning broadcast of La Bohème. Mr. Bobick has also appeared with Seattle Opera, Portland Opera, Opera Colorado, Connecticut Opera, Opera Omaha, Opera Pacific, Opera Delaware, Virginia Opera, Baltimore Opera, Wichita Grand Opera, Dayton Opera, Mozart Festival Opera, Central City Opera, Fort Worth Opera, Teatro Lirico d’Europa, and the Bard Festival.
James Bobick is regularly praised for the quality of both his singing and his acting. As Figaro in Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, the Washington Post singled him out for particular praise; “Among the many good things about Virginia Opera’s production of Rossini’s ‘Barber of Seville,’ the best was baritone James Bobick as Figaro. Bobick was a standout in a strongly cast production. He has a fine voice and his first-act aria ‘Largo al factotum,’ was given a bravura performance. With his good looks, excellent comic timing and strong stage presence, he exuded confidence and joie de vivre. It is a Figaro to remember.” After a performance of La Bohème, Opera News noted, “Bobick was an ideal Marcello, singing with comic point, emotionally volatile and vocally splendid in the Act IV duet with [Raúl] Melo.” In The New York Times, Mr. Bobick’s Elmer Gantry garnered the mention, “Many of the vocal performances were impressive, including that of James Bobick as Elmer.” The Times has also praised James for his “burnished sound and incisive diction” for his performance as the Gambler in Jack Beeson’s Hello Out There.
In addition to his work in the standard operatic repertoire, Mr. Bobick has extensive experience performing the new works of contemporary composers. He has bowed as Kinesias in Mark Adamo’s Lysistrata, as Bendrix in Jake Heggie’s End of the Affair, as Dr. Bloom in John Eaton’s micro-tonal opera Pumped Fiction, as Donald Giovanni in P.D.Q. Bach’s The Abduction of Figaro, and recently, as Rob Petrie in Paul Salerni’s The Life and Love of Joe Coogan. He has also performed large parts of contemporary works while in concert, on recording, or as a frequent guest in New York City Opera’s VOX festival. These works include leading roles in Robert Aldrich’s Elmer Gantry, Robert Manno’s Dylan and Caitlin, John Eaton’s Paradise Lost and The Reverend Jim Jones, Herschel Garfein’s Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Timothy Geller’s Where Silence Reigns, Sergio Cervetti’s operas Elegy for a Prince and Yum!, Robert Paterson’s A Child Possessed, David T. Little’s Soldier Songs, and as George W. Bush in Ted Hearne’s Katrina Ballads.
James Bobick has also had a busy concert career. At Carnegie Hall, he has been heard in Orff’s Carmina Burana, Mendelssohn’s Die Erste Walpurgisnacht, Mozart’s Coronation Mass, and Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. He has performed at Avery Fisher Hall in Carmina Burana, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, Haydn’s Creation and Paukenmesse, Bach's Mass in B minor, and Handel’s Messiah. Internationally, he has performed Messiah in Prague with the Prague Symphony; Carmina Burana and Messiah in San José, Costa Rica with the San José Symphony; Fauré’s Requiem in Paris, Reims, and Chartres, with the Orchestre Pasdeloup; and, his Tu es Petrus in Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris. Around the country, Mr. Bobick has performed Orff’s Carmina Burana, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, Mozart’s Requiem, Bach’s Magnificat and Mass in B minor, Handel’s Israel in Egypt, Messiah, and the title role in Saul, Haydn’s Die Schöpfung and Lord Nelson Mass, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Five Mystical Songs, and Songs of Travel, and in Paul McCartney’s Liverpool Oratorio.