BIOGRAPHY

David Salsbery Fry is a bass singer, narrator and advocate for performers with disabilities. Praised for his “extremely sensual and almost impossibly deep tones” by concerti, he is the grand prize winner of the Bidu Sayão International Vocal Competition.

A tireless supporter of new music and composer-performer collaboration, Mr. Fry has premiered works by Robert Aldridge, Shawn Brogan Allison, Lembit Beecher, Justine F. Chen, Frank Corcoran, Chaya Czernowin, John David Earnest, Ruby Fulton, Juliana Hall, Jenny Olivia Johnson, Louis Karchin, Lowell Liebermann, Adam Maor, Eric Nathan, Osnat Netzer, Steve Potter, Arnold Rosner, Joseph Summer, Kristian Twombly, Nicholas Vines and Scott Wheeler. He has also collaborated with Mark Adamo, James Granville Eakin III, Oliver Knussen, Ari Benjamin Meyers, Nico Muhly, John Musto, Judith Shatin, and Charles Wuorinen.

Other notable engagements include Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail for St. Petersburg Opera, Don Basilio in Il barbiere di Siviglia for Vero Beach Opera, Truffaldin in Ariadne auf Naxos at Tanglewood, Arkel in Pelléas et Mélisande and Sarastro in Die Zauberflöte in Tel Aviv, his Mostly Mozart debut in Stravinsky’s Renard, and Olin Blitch in Susannah with Opera at Rutgers.

His writing includes articles for Classical Singer, The Liberated Voice, and Opera and Disability. He is also a featured contributor to Claudia Friedlander’s The Singer’s Audition & Career Handbook and James Harrington’s Building a Career in Opera from School to Stage: Operapreneurship.

Mr. Fry studied at Juilliard, the University of Maryland, and Johns Hopkins and apprenticed with The Santa Fe Opera. His recordings are available from Albany, BMOP/sound, Navona, Naxos, New World Records and Odyssey Opera.

More on Mr. Fry’s life and career can be found in the October 2015 issue of Classical Singer.





“Incredible! ... Rich, deep voice, stirring and overwhelming. Truly remarkable and astounding.”
- Haaretz


David Salsbery Fry

As Olin Blitch in Susannah, Opera at Rutgers
Photo © Larry Levanti


David Salsbery Fry

As Il Commendatore in Don Giovanni, The Santa Fe Opera Apprentice Showcase Scenes
Photo © Ken Howard


Copyright © 2010-2023 David Salsbery Fry