Chad Kranak, Armenian-American tenor, praised for his “lyrical eloquence and attractive lyric sound” by Opera News, is known for the musicality and vulnerability he brings to the stage. His 2021-22 season is so far set to include Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly with New Rochelle Opera, Luzio in Wagner’s Das Liebesverbot with the Cambridge Chamber Ensemble, a return to Virginia as the tenor soloist for the Saint-Saëns Requiem, and making his role debut as Cavaradossi in Tosca with New Rochelle Opera this spring.

His 2019-20 season included being the tenor soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the Sequoia Symphony, Rinuccio in Gianni Schicchi with Regina Opera, and prior to cancellations due to the pandemic, he was scheduled to perform the title role in Rimsky-Korsokov’s Kashchey the Deathless with Bel Cantanti Opera, Don Jose in Carmen with Stony Brook Opera, the tenor soloist in the Verdi Requiem and Berlioz’s Messe solennelle, as well as a workshop of a new opera through Opera Parallèle.

In 2018, Chad returned to the Bard Music Festival as a soloist in the rarely performed Russian work Passion Week by Maximilian Sternberg. He then had the unique opportunity to perform with Madonna in her surprise Met Gala performance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. He also made his debut with New York Virtuoso Singers in Thea Musgrave’s Voices of our Ancestors and sang Handel’s Messiah with both the Brooklyn Contemporary Chorus and Grace Church NYC, as well as Schubert’s Nachtelle and Mass in G with the Riverdale Choral Society.

2016-17 performances include Rhomboidal in L’île de Tulipitan with Light Opera of New York, Doge in Rossini’s Otello with Bard Music Festival, and Paulo in Rachmaninov’s Francesca da Rimini with Garden State Opera. He was also a dancer in Mark Morris’ production of rarely performed Curlew River by Britten at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

During the 2014-15 season, Chad made his European debut, singing the Conte di Lerma in Verdi’s Don Carlo with the Verbier Festival in Switzerland. He also appeared as Martin in Chelsea Opera’s The Tender Land, in which Opera News called his aria, “thebr highlight of the performance”, and as a guest artist with Stonybrook Opera, singing Normanno in Lucia di Lammermoor.

Originally from San Jose, California, Chad is now based in Brooklyn, New York where he spends his time building and riding bikes and refining his woodworking and leatherworking skills. Chad is an alum of UC Santa Cruz and CU Boulder.