Eric Ferring

Tenor Eric Ferring, a native of Dubuque, Iowa, graduated magna cum laude from Drake University with his bachelor of music in vocal performance and The Boston Conservatory with his master of music in opera performance. He is a graduate of the Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Ryan Opera Center and the Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist Program, a 2022 George London Foundation Award Winner and the Top Prize Winner of the 2022 Gerda Lissner Foundation International Vocal Competition.

Ferring’s 2026-27 season features a host of anticipated orchestral appearances, including Mozart’s Requiem with the Seattle Symphony (Xian Zhang) and New World Symphony (Stephanie Childress), as well as performances of Handel’s Messiah with the Salzburg Easter Festival (Emmanuelle Haïm), Minnesota Orchestra and Kansas City Symphony (Dame Jane Glover) and Boston Baroque (Christoph Koncz).

Highlights of Ferring’s 2025-26 season included Mozart’s Requiem with the New Jersey Symphony and Music Director Xian Zhang, Rinuccio in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with Opera Carolina and Handel’s Messiah with both the Charlotte and Knoxville symphonies.

Previous notable engagements include his principal role debut at Lyric Opera of Chicago as Lurcanio in Ariodante, a role he also performed for his Opéra de Paris debut in a new Robert Carsen production. With the Metropolitan Opera, he has bowed as Arturo in a new production of Lucia di Lammermoor, Tamino in The Magic Flute and Pong in Turandot. He has sung Fenton in Falstaff with Santa Fe Opera, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte with Opéra national du Rhin and the Verbier Festival, Don Ottavio in Don Giovanni with Opéra de Lille, as well as Don Ottavio and and Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Opéra de Rouen.

In 2022 he released his solo debut album No Choice but Love with Lexicon Classics, which showcased works by LGBTQIA+ composers. This was followed by 2023’s We Have Tomorrow, featuring pianist Madeline Slettedahl and French string quartet, Quatuor Agate, and recorded under the Delos label.

Ferring was an Apprentice Singer at Santa Fe Opera, where he was awarded the 2017 Richard Tucker Memorial Scholarship. He also participated in the Académie de Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis’ Gerdine Young Artist Program, receiving a career award from the Richard Gaddes Fund for Young Artists and was a Studio Artist at Wolf Trap Opera.