Walter DuMelle, SEÑOR RAM/LA BESTIA (he/him)
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Bass, WALTER DuMELLE (he/him), has been engaging audiences both here and
abroad for over forty years with his wide range of vocal styles and genres with such
companies and festivals as Skylight, DiCapo, Des Moines Metro, Central City,
Chautauqua, Natchez, Intermountain, Bronx, Connecticut Grand, Utah Festival, Ash
Lawn, National Opera, and the Opera Theaters of Chicago, Rochester and Connecticut as well as New York City Opera
A well-versed concertizer, DuMelle’s oratorio repertoire includes Messiah and Acis and Galatea (Handel), L’Enfance du Christ and Roméo et Juliette (Berlioz), Requiem
(Mozart, Duruflé, Fauré), The Soldier’s Tale, Oedipus Rex, Mass (Stravinsky), The
Christmas Oratorio (Saint-Saëns) and several Bach cantatas.
Combining a wide variety of music and performance styles he has presented “An American Odyssey” - an innovative all-American program of art song, aria, music-theater, spirituals, and the spoken word, with performances in San Diego, North Carolina and Aalborg, Denmark. Equally at home on the operetta and musical theater stage, his Gilbert & Sullivan canon includes Mikado in Mikado (NY G&S Players; National Savoyards; BTC), Dick Deadeye in H.M.S. Pinafore (Natchez Opera Festival; BTC), Sergeant of the Police in Pirates of Penzance (Lyric Opera SD; BTC) and the Usher in Trial by Jury (San Diego Comic Opera; BTC). Music theatre credits include Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well... (Chautauqua Opera), Benjamin Stone in Follies (Coronado Playhouse), Boatman/Redman in Sunday in the Park with George (ion theatre, SD), Man 2 in Closer than Ever (Bodhi Tree Concerts, Eastman Theatre) and was lauded as the “comic highlight” with his portrayal of the First Gangster in Porter’s Kiss Me Kate (Ashlawn Opera Festival).
Currently hailing from San Diego, local engagements include performances with San Diego Opera (Baron in La traviata, Pinellino in Gianni Schicchi, Lillas Pastia in Carmen, Merchant in The Conquistador, All Is Calm, María de Buenos Aires), Lyric Opera SD (Sulpice -Daughter of the Regiment, Dr. Bartolo & Basilio -The Barber of Seville, Prince Joachim - The Waltz King, King - Rumpelstiltskin) , and Opera de Tijuana (Timur - Turandot, Bonze - Madama Butterfly, Sacristano - Tosca, Frère Laurent - Roméo et Juliette).
In 2012 he co-founded with his wife Diana DuMelle Bodhi Tree Concerts, with whom he has performed numerous roles and concerts. In 2017 he performed the title role in BTC’s production of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies’ 8 Songs for a Mad King, winning “Best in Fest” and “Best Actor in a Musical/Opera” at the San Diego International Fringe
Festival. In the January 2026 world premiere of the new chamber opera by Anthony
Davis, Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote, he will sing the roles of Señor Ram/La Bestia.
He made his New York City Opera debut in 2022 as the Doctor in La traviata, followed by a reprise of All Is Calm. DuMelle has been a section leader at St. James by-the-Sea Episcopal Church for nearly twenty years. He also has sung locally with Bach Collegium San Diego, Sacra/Profana, Congregation Beth Israel, Temple Adat Shalom, South Coast Chamber Choir, Cappella Gloriana, among others, as well as the debut performances of the San Diego Symphony Festival Chorus.
He received his Master’s in Music from the Eastman School of Music.