no height,” he says. “Claudia told me, ‘You
are a baritone—you are an opera singer.’”
Glavin protested at first. After all, he had
always imagined himself on stage smoking
a cigar and having a drink, like a member of
the Rat Pack.
“I never wanted to sing opera,” he says with
a laugh. “I loved to sing, and I loved to make
people laugh. I told her I was a comedian, not
an opera singer.”
Still, he heeded her advice. After
graduating from North Hills High School
in 1978, Glavin attended the University of
Pittsburgh “for about nine weeks” before
finding dinner theater work with Winnie
Flynn, where he could sing and make people
laugh. He then joined the chorus of the
Pittsburgh Opera, and was called to audition
for Argentinian Tito Capobianco, the opera’s
artistic director at the time.
“He was very serious about opera, which
made me a nervous wreck, because I was
definitely not serious about opera,” says
Glavin, laughing. “After I auditioned, I
couldn’t understand a word he was saying, so
I asked his accompanist to translate. The guy
told me that Tito was offering me a few small
roles, so I quit the other show.”
Glavin, who counts Jackie Gleason,
Chris Farley and John Candy as comedic
inspiration, made his first appearance
with the Pittsburgh Opera in 1985 in the
role of The Jailer in Tosca. Since then, he’s
performed with the Pittsburgh Opera 41
times, including roles as Sulpice in Daughter
of the Regiment, Benoit and Alcindoro in La
Bohème, Sacristan in Tosca, Bartolo in The
Marriage of Figaro and Pistola in Falstaff,
among many others.
In 1988, Glavin entered the Pavarotti
International Vocal Competition and won,
besting 3,000 other competitors. The award
led to the major role of Dr. Dulcamara in The
Elixir of Love, which he performed alongside
Luciano Pavarotti at the Opera Company of
Philadelphia.
“Winning that award opened up many
doors, and led to much bigger roles,” says
Glavin, who sings in French, Italian and
German. “It was life changing.”
Glavin went on to perform in countless
operas all over the country and around
the world. He performed as Brighella in
the American premiere of Wagner’s Das
Liebesverbot at the Glimmerglass Festival in
New York and has played Bartolo with the
San Francisco Opera, Seattle Opera, Florida
Grand Opera, Washington Opera, Opera
Company of Philadelphia, Vancouver Opera,
Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and Teatro
Teresa Carreño in Caracas, Venezuela.
He’s played Don Magnifico with the
San Francisco Opera, Opera Company of
Philadelphia, Baltimore Opera, L’Opéra de
Montréal, and Teatro Municipal de Santiago
and the title role in Don Pasquale at the
Glimmerglass Festival, Opera Philadelphia,
and L’Opéra de Montréal. He’s frequently
seen at New York City Opera, where he has
sung in Don Pasquale, L’italiana in Algeri a