Ian Rucker, baritone and Michael Banwarth, piano

Baritone Ian Rucker and pianist Michael Banwarth perform music by Gabriel Fauré, Gustav Mahler, Frank Loesser, Leonard Bernstein, and Richard Rodgers live from the Seventeenth Church of Christ, Scientist, Chicago. The third-year baritone with Lyric Opera’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Ian Rucker will appear at Lyric in the 2024/25 season as Schaunard/La bohème. He holds a master’s degree in vocal performance from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, where his roles included Count Almaviva/The Marriage of Figaro and the title role/The Barber of Seville. He has also appeared as Papageno/The Magic Flute at Bloomington Chamber Opera. Rucker earned his bachelor’s degree in vocal performance at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he was heard in the title roles of Don Giovanni and Sweeney Todd, as well as Officer Lockstock/Urinetown and Ernst Ludwig/Cabaret. Concert engagements include Carmina Burana with the Northwest Indiana Symphony. Rucker is a former Palm Beach Opera Apprentice Artist and a former Aspen Music Festival Renée Fleming Artist. He recently received an Encouragement Award in the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition (Wisconsin District) and first place in the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition. The second-year pianist with Lyric Opera’s Patrick G. and Shirley W. Ryan Opera Center, Michael Banwarth recently completed a Master of Music in collaborative piano at the New England Conservatory of Music. A recipient of the Dean’s Scholarship and Gunther Schuller medal at NEC, Banwarth served as teaching assistant for the Song Lab program, performed frequently in the Liederabend and Sonata Night concert series, and prepared productions of The Turn of the Screw and L’enfant et les sortilèges. In summer 2022, he was invited to be a vocal piano fellow at Music Academy of the West. He has also held fellowships at the Bay View Music Festival and the Atlantic Music Festival, and served as assistant music director and harpsichordist for the Iowa State Opera Studio during his undergraduate studies. In Lyric’s 2024/25 Season, Banwarth will serve on the music staff for Blue.