IanRucker

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  • Fellow
  • Baritone

About Ian

American baritone Ian Rucker's roles in the 2025/26 season Include Dandini La Cenerentola at the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, Guglielmo Così fan tutte at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, and Count Almaviva The Marriage of Figaro at Scottish Opera. Ian recently completed his tenure as an ensemble member with the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, where his appearances included The Foreman Jenufa and Raimbaud Le Comte Ory, both of which he jumped in for as cover, as well as Man in Bar Champion, Moralés Carmen, and Schaunard La bohème. He alsoperformed the title role in the world premiere of The Story of Billy Budd at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. Ian was recently a prize winner in the final of the highly acclaimed Neue Stimmen vocal competition, and he sang the role of Diener IV in Strauss’ Capriccio at the 2024 Salzburg Festival.

Ian received his bachelors degree in Vocal Performance from The University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, under the instruction of baritone Kenneth J. Pereira. It was there that he performed roles such as Ernst Ludwig Cabaret, Officer Lockstock Urinetown, and the title roles in both Sweeney Todd and Don Giovanni. He studied his masters in Vocal Performance at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, under the tutelage of legendary soprano Carol Vaness. Here he performed multiple leading baritone roles, including Conte Almaviva Le nozze di Figaro, Papageno Die Zauberflöte, and Figaro Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Post-education credits include a summer spent at the Aspen Summer Music Festival as a Renée Fleming Artist, performing in weekly aria and scene masterclasses, including a public masterclass led by Renée Fleming herself. The following season was spent in West Palm Beach, Florida as an Apprentice Artist with Palm Beach Opera.

Ian's competition success includes 1st Prize in Tier II of the James Toland Vocal Arts Competition, 2nd in the young artist tier of the James Alexander Vocal Competition with Mississippi Opera, and encouragement awards in both the Wisconsin and Georgia districts of the Metropolitan Opera Laffont Competition.

Ian is based in Chicago, USA

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Contact

For availability and general enquiries

Angelica Conner

Angelica Conner

Senior Artist Manager
Charlotte Bateman

Charlotte Bateman

Assistant Artist Manager

Representation

Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt

Season Highlights

Jul 2025
Festival d'Aix-en-Provence
The Story of Billy Budd, Sailor (Billy Budd)
Sep 2025
Lyric Opera of Kansas City
La Cenerentola (Dandini)
Feb 2026
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Così fan tutte (Guglielmo)
May 2026
Scottish Opera
The Marriage of Figaro (Count Almaviva)

Video

Photos

Selected Repertoire

Bizet

Carmen (Moralès)

Janáček

Jenufa (Stařek)

Mozart

Die Zauberflöte (Papageno)   •   Don Giovanni (title role)   •   Le nozze di Figaro (Il Conte)

Rossini

Il barbiere di Siviglia (Figaro)   •   Le Comte Ory (Raimbaud)

Terence Blanchard

Champion (Man in Bar)

News

Press

  • The Story of Billy Budd, Sailor

    Festival d'Aix-en-Provence
    Jul 2025

    • Ian Rucker is a cherub with the voice of an angel fallen from the heaven...

    • To the question “can you read?” posed by the evil Claggart, Billy Budd replies “no, but I can sing.” Nothing could be truer for the American baritone Ian Rucker. From the very first performances, the audience discovers a powerful instrument, rich in a myriad of high harmonics that radiate throughout the room. Whether he is singing a sea shanty to entertain the crew, or lamenting his impending fate, the light and catchiness of the timbre never falter, making the performer a young man whose kindness of soul and youthful features seduce his comrades (sometimes even literally), provoking the jealousy of his captain-at-arms. The scene that reveals him, alone, awaiting death, is a suspended moment where rebellion, nostalgia and an almost Christ-like resignation mingle, of a moving intensity.

    • Ian Rucker isn't just a tall, blond angel. Beyond his Michelangelo-esque physique, the American baritone has a powerful, rich voice, with the ideal range for this tense tessitura. His technique is remarkable (especially for a 27-28 year-old singer) but goes unnoticed as it serves his expressiveness. His voice can be lit up with sunshine or darkened, tinged with honey in a delicate mix. His composition is moving, refined beneath an apparent simplicity, consistent throughout the work, and culminates in a moving final scene where anger, hope, and resignation intertwine. An exceptional Billy.

    • Ian Rucker is an ideal Billy Budd, and his beauty does not make him miss his character to which he gives all his human qualities. The singing line is precise, the high notes controlled, the sensitivity omnipresent and the seduction has no trouble operating.

    • ... above all, Billy Budd [is] so intensely embodied in his presence and voice by Ian Rucker.

    • Starting with the statuesque Billy Budd of the American baritone Ian Rucker, with his powerful singing of solar clarity in revolt as in resignation at the dawn of death. Goldilocks, angel's face, muscles and tattoos visible, he embodies this Edenic hero, too perfect...

    • At first, I was mostly struck by the vocal and scenic quality of Ian Rucker as Billy Budd.... His voice was secure, idiomatic, and perfectly capable of sustaining the continuous play between song and speech in the score. But what inspired me most was how a singer with a high and yet very baritonal voice managed to achieve that rare quality of ingenuity and honesty so essential to the role... Also, even with a reduced orchestra, it is impressive to hear a baritone who can sing such a high part while preserving such beauty of tone...

  • The Lyric Opera of Chicago Celebrates its Fiftieth Anniversary

    Lyric Opera of Chicago
    Jun 2024

    • Ian Rucker from OshKosh, Wisconsin, is a third-year student. His baritone has such a dramatic, deep rich resonant rounded voice and the fact that he is handsome makes him mesmerizing on stage.

  • Le Comte Ory

    Lyric Opera of Chicago
    Nov 2022 - Nov 2022

    • Sher’s staging, which also features the vocally elegant Zoie Reims as Ragonde, the attendant to the Countess, walks a deft tonal tightrope. At the performance I saw, the bass understudy Ian Rucker sounded rich indeed in the role of Raimbaud, normative sidekick to Ory.

    • Joshua Hopkins was indisposed Sunday as Raimbaud, and Ian Rucker made an impressive company debut subbing as Ory’s friend and partner in crime. The towering singer, an Oshkosh native and first-year member of the Ryan Opera Center, showed a firm baritone and relaxed confidence on stage, capably delivering Raimbaud’s comic narrative of his raiding of the castle’s wine cellar.

  • La bohème

    Lyric Opera of Chicago
    Mar 2025

    • It’s not often one walks out of a Bohème performance dazzled by the Schaunard. Ian Rucker, a third-year Ryan Center member from Oshkosh, displayed a big, warm-toned baritone, natural ease, and charismatic stage presence. One couldn’t help feeling that this was a voice and singer better suited to Marcello.

    • ...and baritone Ian Rucker, a third-year member of the Ryan Opera Center, Lyric’s pre-professional training program, more than holding his own as Schaunard.