IanRucker

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  • Fellow
  • Baritone

About Ian

American baritone Ian Rucker is in his third and final season as an ensemble member with the Ryan Opera Center at the Lyric Opera of Chicago. His recent appearances at the Lyric include The Foreman Jenufa and Raimbaud Le Comte Ory, both of which he jumped in for as cover, as well as Man in Bar Champion, and Moralés Carmen.The remainder of the 2024/25 season sees him perform as Schaunard in Puccini’s La bohème, as well as 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 is based in Chicago, USA

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Contact

For availability and general enquiries

Angelica Conner

Angelica Conner

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 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.