Carl J. Ratner, Baritone, was awarded a 2010-2011 Fulbright grant to perform in recital, give lectures and master classes, direct an American chamber opera, and research Russian art song at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the Russian Federation. Upon his return, he will tour the United States with a recital of Russian and American songs, including a performance at the Chicago Cultural Center as part of “The Soviet Arts Experience,” a multi-event collaboration organized by the University of Chicago. In 2011 he also returns to the Bach Ensemble of Naples Florida for a mixed program of sacred music as well as two performances of Messiah.

Recent engagements include the role of Ping in Puccini’s Turandot with the Kalamazoo Symphony and Sharpless in the same composer’s Madama Butterfly with the Battle Creek Symphony, which he also directed. Other operatic roles include Papageno in The Magic Flute, John Proctor in The Crucible, Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor, and the title roles in Verdi’s Falstaff and Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi.

His concert work includes Bach’s Magnificat and Mass in A major with The Bach Ensemble of Naples, Vaughan Williams’s Dona Nobis Pacem and Copland’s Old American Songs with the Cedar Rapids Concert Chorale, and performances of the Fauré Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and David Gillingham’s Lifesongs. His recital programs, remarkable for their breadth and creativity, have included works ranging from Rameau’s Thétis to Bolcom’s Cabaret Songs. He has performed in 13 languages.

Ratner’s career also includes over two decades of experience as an opera director. He learned his craft assisting directors at major opera houses including Covent Garden (London), the Metropolitan Opera, Munich Opera, San Francisco Opera, English National Opera, New York City Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Santa Fe Opera, and the Spoleto Festival in Italy, where he worked with eminent composer Gian Carlo Menotti. From 1994 to 1999 served as Artistic Director of Chicago Opera Theater, Chicago’s second largest opera company. He previously held the same position with Chamber Opera Chicago from 1984 to 1993.

He currently serves as Director of Opera and Associate Professor of Voice for the School of Music at Western Michigan University, where he directs the annual opera production and teaches applied voice, opera workshop, vocal literature, and French and German diction. He received his Bachelor of Music degree in music history from the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio and also participated in an internship in opera, dance, and drama production at The Juilliard School in New York City. He earned a Master of Arts in vocal pedagogy at Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago and his Doctor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the School of Music at Northwestern University.