About

Praised as “luminous” and “supremely tender” by the Chautauqua Daily, 25-year-old baritone, keyboardist, and conductor Henry Griffin is quickly establishing himself as a versatile artist across opera houses and chamber music stages, as well as on the podium.

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In summer 2025, Henry joined Opera Neo in San Diego, California as a studio artist, where he covered Idreno in Haydn’s Armida and appeared in the ensemble of Donizettie’s L'elisir d'amore. Later that summer, Henry participated as a full scholarship recipient at the Tosti International Singing Academy in Folkestone, England, where he sang in a masterclass for esteemed baritone Sir Thomas Allen and performed Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte with pianist Anna Tilbrook.

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In 2024, Henry performed as an Emerging Artist Fellow at Opera in the Ozarks, singing the roles of Reverend Hale in Robert Ward’s The Crucible and Germont in Verdi’s La Traviata. He also appeared as the Wolf in Seymour Barab’s Little Red Riding Hood with Opera on the James that same year.

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Highlights of 2023 include singing Ottone in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with the Manhattan School of Music Opera Theater and Orchestra, receiving a full fellowship to the Mostly Modern Festival, and becoming the youngest participant in the Opera and Song programmes of the Verbier Festival Academy, where he performed the Keeper of the Madhouse in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress.

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Earlier roles include Count Almaviva in Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro at the Castleton Festival (2022), and multiple seasons at the Chautauqua Opera Conservatory, where Henry sang Toby in 110 in the Shade, Snug in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Dr. Bartolo in Le nozze di Figaro. In 2021, he returned to Chautauqua as a member of the Chautauqua Opera Company to cover the Commentator in Derrick Wang’s Scalia/Ginsburg.

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Currently continuing his studies in vocal performance, Henry is pursuing his Master of Music in Voice and Opera at Northwestern University under the tutelage of Nancy Gustafson, where upcoming performances include the role of Pa Zegner in Missy Mazzoli’s Proving Up in November 2025. 

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Equally dedicated to the concert stage, Henry has performed extensively as a pianist and chamber musician. Notable appearances include performing Dohnányi’s Sextet with musicians of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in September 2025 and a live WFMT Chicago broadcast of a piano four-hands performance for the Rush Hour Concerts series in June 2021.

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As a conductor, Henry was recently named Assistant Artistic Director of the Handel Week Festival in Oak Park, Illinois. In May 2025, Henry received a Master of Music in Conducting at the Eastman School of Music, where he served as assistant conductor of Eastman Opera Theater under Timothy Long.

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Receiving the esteemed Hugh Ross Award for singers with exceptional promise, Henry holds a Bachelor of Music in Classical Voice from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with the late Marlena Kleinman Malas and continued studies with Jonathan Beyer.

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Outside of music, Henry is an avid birder, with 1,372 identified species worldwide.