Bass-baritone Karl Buttermann is gearing up to sing Papageno in a touring production of The Magic Flute with Opera for the Young, based in Madison, Wisconsin. He most recently portrayed the role of Gunther in TUNDI Productions’ Wagner in Vermont Festival’s production of Götterdämmerung this past summer in Brattleboro, Vermont. He also reprised singing Donner in Das Rheingold, a role he sang previously with the same company in 2022. In the fall of 2023, Mr. Buttermann ventured into contemporary opera, where he explicated the roles of Prophet/King in the Minnesota premiere of Nico Muhly’s Dark Sisters with Journey North Opera Company in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In the summer of 2023, he covered Wanderer in TUNDI’s Siegfried. As a 2020 Resident Artist, Mr. Buttermann was scheduled to sing as Count Monterone in Opera North’s production of Rigoletto, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the performances were postponed. He only performed in Flute, singing the roles of Speaker/Second Armored Man.

From 2016-2020, Mr. Buttermann worked on expanding his lower range, and performed as a bass. Within this time frame, he was a member of the 2019-2020 Herndon Emerging Artist Program with Virginia Opera in Norfolk, Virginia, in which he sang Alidoro in La Cenerentola.  Mr. Buttermann was a 2019 Apprentice Artist with Opera Southwest in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and a 2016-2018 fellow of University of North Carolina School of the Arts’ A.J. Fletcher Opera Institute in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

From 2015-2016, Mr. Buttermann had his first notable experiences as a bass-baritone. In these years, he was given roles suitable for an artist at a college level, as well as at an advanced level. These include Mozart’s Figaro, Mozart’s Don Alfonso, Frank Maurrant (cover), and William Jennings Bryan.

Mr. Buttermann attended UNC School of the Arts from 2016-2018, and received a MM Degree in Vocal Performance. From 2012-2016, he received a BM Degree in the same major at Johns Hopkins University’s Peabody Conservatory.