Photo: Oliver Look

Thomas Florio

American baritone Thomas Florio has been praised for his interpretation of Peter Maxwell Davies’ Eight Songs for a Mad King as “peerless” (NRC Handelsblad), “a grand master of using his voice” (Hufvudstadsbladet), and “vocalism seamlessly combined with physical expression” (Rondo Classic). His work in vocal chamber music has taken him to festivals and series in Finland, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, and across the United States. On the operatic stage, he’s been featured at the Staatsoper Hamburg, Bayerische Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Opéra national de Lorraine, and San Francisco Opera, among others. Thomas also devotes himself to educating the next generation of musicians and music lovers, performing in children’s operas, narrating symphony concerts for families in both German and English, leading post-show conversations with young audiences, and working with local schools to provide in-school presentations.

Thomas Florio is a trained practitioner of the Internal Family Systems model of psychotherapy, and is a licensed Heilpraktiker für Psychotherapie in Germany, and has opened his own therapy practice in Berlin. He also works specifically with artists to help them understand and overcome the very unique challenges that they face. As an opera singer, himself, he knows many of those challenges firsthand. Florio will have an artistic coaching workshop in Kuhmo during the festival.