Baritone DOFF PROCTER holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Alabama, a Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music in Ohio, and an Artist's Diploma from the Conservatoire de Musique de Geneve in Switzerland. As a 17-year old college freshman, he was cast in his first leading opera role, which led him to perform well over 30 lyric baritone roles over the next 15 years; such roles as Rossini's Figaro and Dandini, Mozart's Guglielmo and Papageno, and Donizetti's Enrico and Belcore all across the U.S. and Europe.
Procter then moved to Germany, singing many of those signature roles and other high baritones such as Pelleas and Danilo over the next three years. During this time, he completed the gradual transition to tenor, singing his first two-year solo contract in Bavaria, followed by five years under contract in Graz, the second-ranked opera house in Austria. There he sang leading roles such as Tamino, Tom Rakewell (The Rake's Progress), and Tony (West Side Story); then expanded into heavier repertoire like Jenik in The Bartered Bride (also as a guest at the Semperoper in Dresden and the Oper Leipzig), and Jim Mahoney in Weill's Mahagonny. Procter also became a much sought-after leading man for the classical operettas of Lehar, Kalman, Milloecker, and J. Strauss at the meccas of this genre like the Seefestspiele in Moerbisch (4200 seat amphitheater), the State Theater in Munich, and the Vienna Volksoper.
Modern opera became another calling card for Procter after he triumphed internationally with the leading roles in the world premieres of Haubenstock-Ramati's Amerika and Furrer's Narcissus, which played avant-garde festivals all across Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, and England, then was critically acclaimed for his portrayal of Josef K, the title role in Gottfried von Einem's Der Prozess at the State Opera of Prague. By combining baritone and tenor -- opera, operetta, and musical -- from baroque to Bernstein -- he sang over 80 different roles on stage over a 22-year period. Equally at home on the concert and the recital stages, he has performed countless major symphonic works, oratorios, and recitals with leading orchestras and conductors across the United States and in Europe.
As a lecturer and vocal pedagogue, he has taught and coached young singers and given lectures on vocal health both here and abroad. Procter has now relocated to his native Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he is conducting the Chamber Choir and the Girls Choruses of the Alabama Choir School, pursuing business interests, and enjoying spending more time with his lyric soprano wife Laurel and their three singing daughters, Leslie, Christina, and Jessica.
[Back to Voice Faculty] [Home]