A featured soloist on the 2010 Grammy Award winning Transmigrations (Telarc) and the three-time Grammy Award winning (including “Best Classical Recording”) Songs of Innocence and of Experience (Naxos), Panamanian-American baritone Nmon Ford enjoyed many successful major debuts this season. He made his Italian debut at Teatro delle Muse Ancona in the title role of a new production of The Emperor Jones (directed by Henning Brockhaus and conducted by Bruno Bartoletti), his company debut with Cincinnati Opera as Riolobo in Francesca Zambello’s production of Florencia en el Amazonas, and his role debut as The Traveler in a new production of Death in Venice at Hamburg State Opera. Earlier this season he sang Di Luna (Il trovatore) with Virginia Opera and Thoas (Iphigénie en Tauride) with Hamburg State Opera, preceded by Mendelssohn’s Elijah at Washington National Cathedral, with the Cathedral Choral Society. During last season he sang both Scarpia (Tosca) and the title role in a new production of Billy Budd with Hamburg Opera, and with the Atlanta Symphony conducted by Robert Spano, he recorded Jennifer Higdon’s Dooryard Bloom (written for Mr. Ford) and Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music for Telarc. He made his Ravinia Festival debut with James Conlon conducting the Chicago Symphony in Shostakovich’s Symphony #13 (Babi Yar), which he also performed with Maestro Conlon and the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Disney Concert Hall. Mr. Ford’s other recent engagements include Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Pittsburgh Symphony conducted by Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, and being responsible for the role of Amfortas (Parsifal) with Los Angeles Opera, in a production by Robert Wilson starring Plácido Domingo and conducted by Kent Nagano. He enjoyed critical success at Spoleto Festival USA in the title role of Mozart’s Don Giovanni, in a production by Günter Krämer conducted by Emmanuel Villaume. Having begun his musical training in piano at age three, Mr. Ford has since appeared with Hamburg Opera, Teatro delle Muse Ancona, San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, Cincinatti Opera, Spoleto Festival USA, Utah Opera, Portland Opera, Opera Memphis, and Virginia Opera in roles such as Iago (Otello), Kurwenal (Tristan und Isolde), Scarpia (Tosca), Amfortas (Parsifal), Di Luna (Il trovatore), Amonasro (Aïda), Germont (La traviata), Escamillo (Carmen), Don Giovanni (Don Giovanni), and the High Priest (Samson et Dalila). Other roles include Posa (Don Carlo), Jochanaan (Salome), and Telramund (Lohengrin).