Brian Hotchkin is a bass-baritone, vocal instructor, stage director, and opera administrator. Noted for his "strong and effortless voice" and his "unerring, witty sense of theater,” he has performed with companies around the country, including Virginia Opera, Opera New Jersey, the Aspen Music Festival, Chamber Opera Chicago, and Opera Santa Barbara. He recently made his London debut as Filippo in Bellini's rarely heard opera, Beatrice di Tenda.
His wide-ranging repertoire includes both the title role and Count Almaviva in Le nozze di Figaro, Leporello in Don Giovanni, and Alfonso in Così fan tutte (Mozart); as well as Marcello in La bohème and Sharpless in Madama Butterfly (Puccini). Equally at home in musical theater, Brian has performed leading roles including KoKo in The Mikado, Bobby in Sondheim’s Company and Merlin/Pellinore in Lerner & Loewe’s Camelot. Locally, he is a frequent soloist with ensembles including Quire of Voyces, the Mission Schola, and the Santa Barbara Master Chorale, where he was the baritone soloist for Vaughan-Williams's masterpiece, A Sea Symphony.
In addition to his voice studio at Ventura College, he also teaches ear training classes. Brian was on the faculty at Resound Northwest in Portland, OR and he maintains an active private voice studio in Santa Barbara. He has also given voice seminars for both students and faculty at Santa Barbara City College.
As a stage director, Brian has led productions including The Light in the Piazza, Sweeney Todd, Hansel & Gretel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, and It's Love for Ventura College. As an arts administrator, Brian served as Company Manager, Artistic Administrator, and Public Relations Manager for Opera Santa Barbara. Brian has studied with noted voice teachers including W. Stephen Smith, David L. Jones, Judith Haddon, Andrea DelGiudice and Jack Li Vigni.
He holds degrees in voice performance from DePaul University and the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University.
Brian can be contacted at bhotchkin@vcccd.edu.
Filippo is a nasty piece of work requiring a firm but agile baritone that can impose steely authority and inner doubt. Brian Hotchkin’s performance had many merits; his singing is even toned and smooth of line, he conjured the Duke’s inner distress in the death-warrant scene, his long confessional aria was well-shaped - and he can deliver a mean stare.
– London Bel Canto Festival / "Beatrice di Tenda" by V. Bellini