Celebrated by Opera News for his “rich baritone and energetic stage presence,” Texan Scott Hendricks is one of opera’s most compelling and versatile performers. From Puccini to Schreker, Verdi to Britten, and Debussy to modern-day composers, Hendricks has always maintained a diverse operatic diary.
Recent highlights include Alberich Der Ring des Nibelungen at La Monnaie de Munt, Klingsor Parsifal at Semperoper Dresden, Jupiter Der Liebe der Danae at Opera Carlo Felice Genova, Mamma Agata Viva La Mamma at Deutsche Oper am Rhein, title role in Sweeney Todd at the Opéra national du Rhin, Wozzeck at Staatstheater Braunschweig, the Mad Hatter in Chin’s Alice in Wonderland with the NDR Radio Philharmonic at the Concertgebouw as well as The Official in Éna Brennan’s world premiere of Hold Your Breath at the Bregenzer Festspiele.
A close collaborator of director Barrie Kosky, in the 2026/2027 season Scott performs the title roles in Aribert Reimann's Lear and Sondheim's Sweeney Todd with the Komische Oper Berlin. Highlights elsewhere in the season include his return to De Vlaamse Opera (Der Schmied von Gent) and Semperoper Dresden (Parsifal).
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Lear (Title Role)
Komische Oper Berlin, September 2026
The excellent cast was headed by Scott Hendricks, a Texan baritone with a voluminous, resonant, and projecting voice, whose vocal resources perfectly suited Kosky's vision . . . Hendricks portrays with breathtaking intensity the path to his physical and mental destruction.
Bernd Hoppe, scherzo
Fischer-Dieskau himself leaned into the lyrical elements, humanising Lear. The lead here, Scott Hendricks, instead emphasised those elements where the part moves away from song, whether towards snarled orders or cries of despair.This approach fitted the production down to a tee.
David Grundy, Bachtrack
The singers are free to prowl around this space and none does so more threateningly or disquietingly than Scott Hendricks’s Lear, a compelling creation rippling with nervous energy and paranoia.
Hugo Shirley, Opera Now
The consistently vocally and dramatic excellent baritone Scott Hendricks
Matthias Nöther, Die deutsche Bühne
Hendricks not only sings the role of Lear fantastically in every register but in his duet with Cordelia also sings with a tender tone. His greatest achievement lies in the fact that he evidently trusts in Kosky's direction: in the development from an arrogant tyrant to the wandering, homeless man cast out by his daughters arriving at the end to one who is pitiful, delusional and paranoid with unparalleled intensity.
Dr. Ingobert Waltenberger, Online Merker
Scott Hendricks’ is a fascinatingly powerful presence—which, even in his decline, still filled the room with its vocal presence; with his imperious grandeur, which faded all the more poignantly in the final scene, he was the centerpiece of the evening...
Gerald Felber, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
Scott Hendricks is a devoted Lear who, at the beginning, still comes across as a man in his prime. It’s poignant how his nonchalant first appearance in a tuxedo is mirrored in his final moments before his death. Now it’s the nonchalance of a man who has nothing left to lose and who stands there in his underwear
Judith von Sternburg, Frankfurter Rundschau
Barrie Kosky can rely on the intensity of an outstanding ensemble—led by Scott Hendricks in the title role. As Lear, the Texan effortlessly follows in the footsteps of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Bo Skovhus; indeed, by toning down the melodrama, he comes across as even lonelier.
Christoph Becher, Neue Musikzeitung
In the title role, Scott Hendricks delivers a first-rate performance. His timbre is dark without ever sounding hollow, and bears no resemblance to that of a conventional old man. His voice retains its strength throughout the 2-hour-25-minute performance. His articulation remains exemplary, and his upper midrange retains that metallic brilliance that suits the character’s wounded authority so well. But the essence lies elsewhere, in the long, internal disintegration that the singer manages to make palpable. The king does not plunge into madness: he slides toward it, slowly, irrevocably. The gradual infantilization of his behavior might seem questionable; Hendricks, on the contrary, makes it one of the most striking manifestations of the character’s collapse.
Vinicius van Eyk, Premiere Loge
Baritone Scott Hendricks, who is consistently outstanding both vocally and as a performer…
Matthias Nöther, Die deutsche Bühne
Parsifal (Klingsor)
Dresden Semperoper, March 2026
Despite the castration dictated by Wagner’s libretto, Scott Hendricks’s portrayal of Klingsor delivered some wicked moments of erotic activity and an impressively deep baritone.
Thomas Thielemann, IOCO
As Klingsor, Scott Hendricks forgoes a demonic, melodious tone in favor of a rough, almost spoken-song-like delivery. The result is a psychologically sharply defined character—uncomfortably immediate in a gripping sense—who strikes one less with his darkness than with his nervous disintegration.
Ostdeutsche Allgemeine
Scott Hendricks gave Klingsor a slightly menacing, spellbinding performance.
DNN
Scott Hendricks' Klingsor is vocally impressive…
Der Opernfreund
Die Liebe der Danae (Jupiter)
Teatro Carlo Felice, April 2025
"Scott Hendricks in the role of Jupiter gives an impressive vocal and stage performance, expressing with intensity the psychological complexity of the vulnerable and in love god."
Massimo Bernardini, Huffington Post
"Scott Hendricks portrays a Jupiter at once funny and moving, and his vocal performance is impeccable..."
Marie Gaboriaud, Première Loge
"...with an all-star cast featuring...Scott Hendricks (Jupiter)..."
Enrico Girardi, Corriere della Sera
“The rest of the cast is of the highest level: in the part of Jupiter, the Texan baritone Scott Hendricks, grappling with one of the most arduous roles of repertoire…he succeeds in managing to portray the character with inspired phrasing and great stage presence.”
Michele, Opera Diary
"...baritone Scott Hendricks is a fine actor, who conveys the frustration of Jupiter, powerless, perhaps for the first time, to get what he wants and trapped by the subterfuge he has devised."
Maurice Salles, Forum Opéra
"Scott Hendricks' Jupiter dominated the scene with a magnetic presence that made his Jupiter credible, even touching in its disillusioned humanity. His vocality was distinguished by excellent projection in the high notes...."
Simone Tomei, Gli Amici della Musica
Prima la Mamma!
Deutsche Oper am Rhein, November 2024
‘The extremely versatile baritone Scott Hendricks plays the exalted Mamma Agata, which Donizetti cast with a man. This is the title and key role of the piece - it requires a baritone with a very wide vocal range, who effortlessly imitates a second-class prima donna over long passages, but also has complete command of the range of his voice.’
Peter Klucken, Rheinische Post
‘It is certainly a remarkable performance in terms of fitness, because Hendricks also sings beautifully, even if he has to sing ‘wrong’ on purpose from time to time.’
Guido Krawinkel, Oper Magazin
Siegfried (Alberich)
La Monnaie de Munt, September 2024
‘Scott Hendricks reprises the role of Alberich. Dressed in his black uniform, in collaboration with Wotan, he embodies fury and the desire for vengeance: feelings that deeply permeate his performance. The singer's vibrant voice, with its baroque tendencies, brings a brassy timbre and precise velocity, with brilliant high notes and matte lows’.
Soline Heurtebise, Olyrix
Nostalgia (Carlo)
La Monnaie de Munt, March 2024
"Scott Hendricks...His singing is beautiful, sustained and he embodies with great accuracy the middle age of an impetuous revolutionary who is obsessed by his betrayal."
Helene Adam, cult.news
Das Rheingold (Alberich)
La Monnaie de Munt, October 2023
“Scott Hendricks made a mighty impact as Alberich, rising to the vocal demands of the role while expressing its pain, anger, and humiliation with astonishing physicality – his curse will long remain in the memory.”
Nicolas Blanmont, Opera
The Nose (Kovalev)
La Monnaie de Munt, June 2023
"Scott Hendricks is an excellent Kovaliov, tormented, desperate, grumpy and aggressive, whose beautiful baritone unfolds with ease in a performance that perfectly combines singing quality and stage effectiveness."
Stéphane Lelièvre, Première Loge,
Rigoletto (Title Role)
Utah Opera, March 2023
“Vocal versatility characterized Scott Hendricks’ portrayal of Rigoletto. Within the same scene, his voice could sound sardonic, menacing, and plaintive. It was particularly affecting as he pled desperately with the courtiers to release his daughter, the high register of his baritone range dripping with pathos. Then, when they released her, he switched back to a mocking and cynical tone, trying to show that he was not offended by their ”joke” of kidnapping her.”
Rick Mortensen, Utah Arts Review
Tristan und Isolde (Kurwenal)
Opéra national de Lorraine, January 2023
"Scott Hendricks‘ Kurwenal is in the right tradition, a firm, well timed baritone voice, a faithful companion to Tristan."
José Pons, Olyrix
Scott Hendricks Opera Repertoire
| Adamo | Fredrich Bhaer, Little Women |
|---|---|
| Adams | Title Role, Nixon in China |
| Battistelli | Title Role, Richard III |
| Bellini | Sir Richard Forth, I puritani |
| Bizet | Escamillo / Morales, Carmen |
| Brennan | The Official, Hold Your Breath |
| Britten | Donald, Billy Budd Traveller, Death in Venice |
| Catán | Chucho, Salsipuedes |
| Chin | Mad Hatter / Duck, Alice in Wonderland |
| Donizetti | Lord Henry Ashton, Lucia di Lammermoor Doctor Malatesta, Don Pasquale |
| Giordano | Carlo Gerard, Andrea Chénier Gleby, Siberia |
| Grey, M. | Victor Frankenstein, Frankenstein |
| Janáček | Forester, The Cunning Little Vixen Jaroslav Prus, The Markropulos Case |
| Leoncavallo | Silvio / Tonio, Pagliacci |
| Machover | Prince Dimitri, Resurrection |
| Massenet | Albert, Werther |
| Maw | Nathan, Sophie's Choice |
| Mozart | Count Almaviva, Le nozze di Figaro Title Role, Don Giovanni |
| Prokofiev | Panatalone, The Love of Three Oranges Ruprecht, The Fiery Angel |
| Puccini | Baron Scarpia, Tosca Sharpless, Madama Butterfly Michele, Il tabarro Title Role, Gianni Schicchi Ping, Turandot Marcello, La Bohème Jack Rance, La fanciulla del West |
| Rihm | Hamlet III, Die Hamletmaschine |
| Rossini | Dandini, La Cenerentola |
| Schrecker | Count Andrea Vitelozzo Tamare, Die Gezeichneten |
| Shostakovich | Kovaliov, The Nose |
| Sondheim | Title Role, Sweeney Todd |
| Strauss | John the Baptist, Salome The Count, Capriccio Hofkapellmeister Robert Storch, Intermezzo Jupiter, Die Liebe der Danae |
| Syzmanowski | Title Role, King Roger |
| Tchaikovsky | Title Role, Eugene Onegin |
| Verdi | Title Role, Macbeth The Count of Luna, Il trovatore Giorgio Germont, La traviata Renato, Un ballo in maschera Title Role, Rigoletto Marquis of Posa, Don Carlos Amonasro, Aida Rodrigo, Don Carlo Iago, Otello Title Role / Ford, Falstaff Francesco, I masnadieri |
| Wagner | Alberich, Der Ring des Nibelungen Donner, Das Rheingold Kurwenal, Tristan und Isolde |
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