American Bass-baritone Brandon Cedel is a graduate of the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artist Development Program, and was an ensemble member of Oper Frankfurt from 2016-2019.
Highlights in his 2025/26 season include Masetto Don Giovanni at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the title role in Le nozze di Figaro for the Atlanta Opera, and Father Palmer Silent Night in his debut for the Houston Grand Opera.
Recent appearances include Dulcamara L’elisir d’amore in his debut for the English National Opera; Garibaldo Rodelinda in his debut for Garsington Opera; the title role in Le nozze di Figaro; Bottom A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Leporello Don Giovanni and Argante Rinaldo for the Glyndebourne Festival; the title role in Hercules for the Karlsruhe Handel Festival and the Komische Oper, Berlin; the title role in Don Giovanni for the Atlanta Opera; Dan Brown in the world premiere of The Hours with the Philadelphia Orchestra/Yannick Nézet-Séguin and subsequently at the Metropolitan Opera; Masetto Don Giovanni for the Lyric Opera of Chicago; Collatinus The Rape of Lucretia and Magnifico La Cenerentola for the Boston Lyric Opera; the title role in Le nozze di Figaro for Opera Philadelphia and the Stuttgart Staatsoper; Goulaud Pelléas et Mélisande for Des Moines Metro Opera and Colline La bohème and Basilio Il barbiere di Siviglia for the Canadian Opera Company.
His many roles for Oper Frankfurt include Masetto, Sprecher Die Zauberflöte, Lieutenant Ratcliffe Billy Budd, Argante, Ariodate Serse, Cesare Angelotti Tosca, Brander La damnation de Faust and Achior in Mozart’s La Betulia Liberata.
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MOZART Requiem
The Philadelphia Orchestra, Apr 2026
"Cedel particularly distinguished himself in Tuba mirum with precisely tuned, floor-shaking low notes."
Bachtrack
MOZART Le nozze di Figaro (Figaro)
Atlanta Opera, Mar 2026
"Bass-baritone Brandon Cedel returns to Atlanta as Figaro, bringing his ample, agile voice and charismatic stage presence (fresh from his acclaimed Don Giovanni here in 2023)."
Ear Relevant
KEVIN PUTS Silent Night (Father Palmer)
Houston Grand Opera, Jan 2026
"Bass-baritone Brandon Cedel lent gravity and kindness to Father Palmer, the Scottish priest."
Texas Classical Review
MOZART Don Giovanni (Masetto)
Metropolitan Opera, Nov 2025
"As Masetto, Brandon Cedel was a hulking figure with a round sound that complemented Carroll perfectly. Physically, the two could not contrast more; he was among the tallest members of the cast, and she the shortest. But this only made their relationship all the more endearing as he gave in to her at every turn. In all, he would have come off as a dog that barks but doesn’t bite if not for the stage directions for “Ho capito, signor sì!” where Masetto abuses Zerlina, throwing her around in his anger. It gets so out of hand that the rest of the friends and family have to restrain him. Moreover, Cedel played up the aggression of this interpretation in his vocal rendition, the consonants given more bite and the phrase more accented."
Opera Wire
"[...] The solid bass-baritone Brandon Cedel, with his own effective bluntness and comedic charm — had a lovely sound and was sweet and also teasing."
New York Classical Review
HANDEL Rodelinda (Garibaldo)
Garsington Opera, Jun 2025
"The Garibaldo of bass-baritone Brandon Cedel was a weighty villain, singing with sufficiently malevolent emphasis, but never with any crude snarling."
Bachtrack
"Not to mention the deliciously devilish villainy of Grimoaldo’s ambitious adviser Garibaldo, smoothly sung by the bass-baritone Brandon Cedel – the feeling of menace and high stakes is taken care of."
The Guardian
"Brandon Cedel made for an elegantly sonorous villain – what a contrast to his genial Dulcamara in the English National Opera’s The Elixir of Love."
musicOMH
"The power behind the throne was Brandon Cedel's Garibaldo, strong and resonant of tone, with a nice sense of bravura where necessary, Cedel brought real focus to the character, there was no black and white. He very much projected 'hard man' sex appeal, and his seduction of Monreal's Eduige in Act One was masterly, but it was followed by a solo where Cedel brought out the real blackness in Garibaldo. There was a control about him and his body language, in his vivid aria in Act Two it was the dancers who swirled around, articulating the music."
Planet Hugill
"Bass-baritone Brandon Cedel crackles darkly and persuasively as the malign influencer, Garibaldo, slithering through the notes with the same seamless force as he impels his black spirits."
Seen and Heard International
"Many of the best performances were the minor ones. Brandon Cedel was an enjoyable parody of a chin-stroking villain as Grimoalda’s two-faced ally Garibaldo."
The Telegraph
DONIZETTI L'elisir d'amore (Dulcamara)
English National Opera, Nov 2024
"Cedel has great fun as Dulcamara, his patter wonderfully clear, the mockery, humour and flashes of venality all superbly realised."
The Guardian
"Cedel, meanwhile, cheerfully runs away with the show – a big sunny transatlantic presence who never let his patter get out of control and was barely cynical at all. Vocally, he clicked particularly nicely with Lois’s flame-headed, Mitford-adjacent heiress[…]"
Spectator
"Garrulous and shameless, there was never a dull moment with Cedel on stage."
London Unattached
HANDEL Hercules (Hercules)
Komische Oper Berlin, Mar 2024
"Hercules, American bass-baritone Brandon Cedel, was perfectly cast, with sheer vocal power, especially impressive in the last scene where Hercules pleads for death to end his agony."
Zenaida des Aubris, Bachtrack
"The title character was portrayed by the American bass-baritone Brandon Cedel...the sheer vocal power is impressive in this visually powerful display."
Dr. Ingobert Waltenberger, Online Merker
HANDEL Rodelinda (Garibaldo)
The English Concert Tour, Nov-Dec 2023
"Brandon Cedel’s focused energy as villain Garibaldo brought another dimension to the line-up."
The Arts Desk
"With a weighty sound and color, he had the prototypical operatic villain voice, and it was marvelous to hear him lope through “Tirannia gli diede il regno” with precise and quick vocal footwork. As with all the singing, his mastery of the difficulties meant one heard the character’s scheming anger."
New York Classical Review
"The bass-baritone, Brandon Cedel, had that rare deep voice that could hit all the notes perfectly and boom out loudly (and he had a lovely semi-comic manner as well, which suited his role as the truth-telling bad guy in the plot)."
Threepenny Review
BRITTEN A Midsummer Night's Dream (Bottom)
Glyndebourne Festival, Jul 2023
"As Bottom, Brandon Cedel also has both vocal and acting chops, coming into his own with a good-humoured but, mercifully, not over-played Pyramus in Britten’s masterly, spoof-ridden opera-within-an-opera."
The Stage
"Brandon Cedel is a forthright Bottom, supported by a vividly characterised troupe of amateur actors, every one a joy."
Financial Times
"Brandon Cedel’s Bottom has many faces. At times, he is soft-grained and suddenly poetic. In the great Act three soliloquy, he floated unearthly high notes. Other times he was bullish and bursting with baritonal excess, like in the casting scene. His manifesting of this mutability is so important to the opera’s inner alchemy and Cedel did it with aplomb."
OperaWire
MOZART Le nozze di Figaro (Figaro)
Glyndebourne Festival, May 2022
"...Figaro, sonorously sung by Brandon Cedel, in excellent voice. Cedel is a formidable figure and gave us a larger than life barber underscored by some winning singing: there’s a touch of sugar in the higher register that contrasts appealingly with his oaky lower notes."
Bachtrack
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