Ken Simms, Baritone

Ken Simms is a proud member of Los Angeles’ opera community. A native of Los Angeles, he began his formal musical training as a youth with the California Boys Choir. After a long break which included attendance at the University of Southern California and several private occupations in the field of Finance, he began studying with William Bohn in 1999 until his retirement in 2001. He continued his vocal development with former New York City Opera and Metropolitan Opera Company baritone, Richard Fredricks. Presently, Mr. Simms works with Gail Gordon and Christopher Luthi. Mr. Simms has performed the principal baritone roles in Verdi’s Luisa Miller, La traviata, Un ballo in maschera, Aida, and Otello, Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and Cosi fan tutte and Puccini’s La boheme and Tosca. Mr. Simms performed a lot with Independent Opera Company, principal roles include Gryaznoy in Tsar's Bride by Rimsky-Korsakov, Aleko in Aleko by Rachmaninov and Tomskiy in Queen of Spades by Tchaikovsky.